Starting Over
by breezybrestories
Summary: This is set ten years after the season finale. Brooke and Julian are happily married with their twin boys but everything changes as Julian suddenly passes away. A newly divorced Lucas comes back to Tree Hill to comfort a distraught Brooke and old feelings start to resurface for the two adults. What will happen now that both of their spouses are out of the picture?
1. Chapter 1

A phone rang off in the distance but no one answered the phone call. The phone continued to ring and suddenly the lights to the house turned on. Lucas Scott emerged from his bedroom and found his cellphone lying on the couch where he left it after his serious talk with his soon to be ex-wife, Peyton Sawyer. The caller i.d read Haley James.

"Hello?" Lucas groaned into the phone.

"Luke, I have to tell you something." Haley sounded off on the other end of the phone.

Lucas' eyes searched for the time and found that it was five in the morning, "Hales! It is five in the morning where I am!"

"Lucas this is really important." Haley sighed heavily before continuing, "You might have to come back to Tree Hill."

Lucas knew whatever Haley was about to tell him was going to knock the wind out of him so he took a seat on the couch to steady himself for the bad news.

"What is it Hales?" Lucas took a deep breath to further steady himself for the bad news headed in his direction.

Haley remained silent for a few seconds, making Lucas even more nervous. "Julian was in a really bad car accident and…"

"And what Hales?" Lucas questioned.

"Brooke is a wreck and we all need to be there for her!" Haley continued after taking a deep breath, "They don't think Julian is going to wake up from his coma."

Every bit of sleepiness disappeared from Lucas' body as he absorbed Haley's bad news. "I'll be right there!" He quickly hung up the phone and raced to his bedroom to begin to pack his things.

With no hesitation Lucas began to pack up his belongings and he finished packing within less than an hour after Haley's haunting phone call.

"James!" Lucas whispered to his sleeping nephew. "James, wake up." He sat down on the edge of the bed his nephew was sleeping in.

Jamie woke up as he felt the bed sink down and rise up again. "Uncle Lucas?"

"James! We are going back to Tree Hill." Lucas peeled the covers off of his nephew, "Your Aunt Brooke really needs you right now!" He knew how close Brooke and Jamie were.

"What?" Jamie shot up in the bed, his head spinning from how fast he sat up.

Lucas smiled sadly and nodded, "Your Uncle Julian is dying from a really bad car accident and your mom wants you to be there for your Aunt Brooke. So do you want to leave right now or do you want to wait until the morning?"

"Let's go right now!" Jamie climbed out of the bed and began to repack his suitcase.

"I'll go wake up Sawyer since she is coming with us!" Lucas left his nephew packing in the guest bedroom as he crept into his daughter's bedroom across the hall.

Sawyer was lying wide awake in her bed. "Daddy, are we leaving?" She asked her father quietly. She'd heard the whole exchange between her father and her cousin.

Lucas sat down on the edge of his daughter's soft pink bed, "We need to go back to Tree Hill!"

"Is mama coming with us?" Sawyer asked with a hopeful smile.

Lucas smiled sadly down at his twelve year old daughter. "I'm sorry sweetie." He pushed her blond curls from her sleepy face, "Mama and I are not together anymore, you know that."

Lucas felt as if he had settled when he asked Peyton to marry him twelve years ago. His heart had belonged to someone else but Peyton seemed like the safe choice to make so he made it. When he found out Peyton was pregnant he was sure he'd be able to fall in love with her again but it never happened. He spent their entire relationship comparing Peyton to Brooke but Brooke had gotten married to Julian and the two had twins.

"So we can't travel like a family anymore?" Sawyer asked quietly as tears began to stream down her pink cheeks.

"It's okay!" Jamie came into the bedroom, "We are still your family and you can travel with us. We always have fun together, don't we?"

Sawyer smiled and nodded, "We do have so much fun."

Jamie gathered his tiny cousin into a tight hug, "So let's go have fun! First step to having fun is packing up your bag so we can go!"

Jamie picked up his cousin with ease and sat her back down on her two feet. Lucas watched his nephew with proud eyes. Jamie was not an average twenty-one year old young man. He was gentle and kind to everyone in sight.

"Daddy?" Sawyer called out from the back seat of Lucas' old red Mustang.

"Yes sweetie?" Lucas kept his eyes glued onto the road as he sped through the streets of California to the LAX airport.

"Were you ever in love with Aunt Brooke?" Sawyer asked.

The question took Lucas by surprise and he almost screeched the car to a halt. "That is a very long story." Lucas answered as he pulled into the parking lot of the airport.

"I can tell you the story once we get on the plane." Jamie whispered over to his young cousin.

Sawyer squealed as she clapped her hands together, "I can't wait for story time!"

The family speed walked through the airport as they barely made it to the gate of their late night flight back to Tree Hill. On the plane Lucas sat an aisle away from his daughter and his nephew.

Jamie kept Jenny comfortable as he began to tell her about her father's love story with their Aunt Brooke.

"They met in high school and instantly became an epic love story!" Jamie began his story.

Lucas listened in on his story as he pretended to be asleep in his first class chair across the aisle. Eventually Lucas actually fall asleep as he listened to his nephew explain to his daughter about his romance with her Aunt Brooke.

"Peyton took your dad away from Aunt Brooke!" Jamie was finishing the story when Lucas woke up.

Lucas reached across the aisle of the airplane and shushed the young man. "Don't tell her that part!" He whispered to Jamie.

"Why not? It's the truth!" Jamie defended his actions as he peeled his uncle's fingers off of his Letterman jacket. "You were with Aunt Brooke then Aunt Peyton stole you from her, right?"

"Who told you that?" Lucas questioned his nephew.

"My dad told me the whole story and my mom agreed to every detail." Jamie gave his shoulders a shrug, "Are you saying it isn't true?"

Lucas opened his mouth to deny it but he couldn't find the words. It was the truth. Lucas and Brooke had been happily together when Peyton lured him away from her best friend. Brooke wanted nothing more than for Lucas to be happy so she let him go because she truly loved him.

"Your Aunt Brooke, let me go because she wanted me to be happy even if that meant not being with her anymore." Lucas mumbled.

He now realized that Peyton never let him go. She refused to let him be happy unless it was with her. She even almost stopped his first wedding to his publicist, Lindsay Shaw.

"Sounds to me like Aunt Brooke really loved you." Jamie whispered to his uncle before turning his attention back on to his cousin. "Now where was I?"

Before Jamie could finish his story the pilot's voice came over the intercom system to alert the passengers of the plane that they were about to land. "I hope you enjoy your visit to this special little town town called Tree Hill!"

Lucas exited the plane with his daughter and his nephew following closely behind him. They gathered their bags from the bag shoot before renting out a rental car.

"I know you want to go home to see your mom and dad first…" Lucas said to Jamie as he pulled out of the parking lot of the airport in their rental car.

"I just want to go see Aunt Brooke!" Jamie interrupted his uncle's sentence, "She needs us right now."

Lucas nodded once and headed towards the town's only hospital. "Good choice." He mumbled to Jamie.

"Mom! I just wanted to see Aunt Brooke first." Jamie was on the phone with his mother, Haley, defending his choice to head to the hospital rather than going home to see his parents first.

Lucas and Sawyer stood outside the gray rental Mustang in the hospital's parking lot. Lucas was holding a sleeping Sawyer in his stable arms as he listened in on the one sides conversation.

"I'm sorry mom but I think Brooke needs me more than you do right now!" Jamie hung up the phone and climbed out of the rental car. "I'm ready to go in if you are!"

Lucas smiled nervously, "I'm ready." He had to stop to take a deep breath before proceeding to walk through the double doors.

"We're looking for Julian Baker's room." Jamie stopped to ask the receptionist once they reached the waiting room.

"Are you family?" The receptionist asked as she checked her records for a Julian Baker.

Lucas stepped forward, "This is his nephew…" He gave Jamie a solid pat on the shoulder. "And this is his niece. I'm his brother-in-law!" He smiled reassuringly at the skeptical nurse.

She took in the appearance of the children by Lucas' side and motioned to the right of her desk, "Julian Baker is in room 305A. But to warn you the sight of your brother-in-law isn't so pretty so be prepared."

Lucas and Jamie glanced at one another as they stood frozen at the receptionist's desk. Both men were hesitating to take a step toward Julian's room after the warning from the receptionist. They were nervous about what awaited them in the cold, dark hospital room.

Jamie let out a heavy sigh before he took a small step forward, "Brooke needs us!" He reminded his uncle before his small steps turned into long strides down the hall towards Julian's room.

Lucas remained frozen as he watched his brave nephew make his way down the long hallway. He took another deep breath before he followed Jamie's lead.

Jamie stood outside of the closed door. He waited patiently for his uncle to catch up to him but before Lucas could make it down the hallway the door to the room opened.

"Jamie?" Brooke squealed loudly at the sight of her godson. "What are you doing here?" She pulled the tall male into her arms. "I thought you were in California visiting your Uncle Lucas during your summer vacation from school?"

"Hey Brooke!" Lucas managed to get passed the lump that was forming in the middle of this throat.

The sight of Brooke made his heart drop down into his stomach. It was apparent that the woman had been crying because tear strikes were visible in her make-up. Although, that seemed to be the only messy thing about the woman. Her hair was pulled up into a neat bun on the top of her head. Her sweater was ironed and draping over a pair of dark blue leggings. Her leggings were neatly tucked into a pair of brown Ugg boots.

"Luke?" Brooke croaked out when she saw her old high school boyfriend standing in the middle of the hallway with a blond haired child holding on tightly to his hand. "What are you doing here?"

Lucas smiled nervously, "I could not, not be here after hearing the bad news about Julian."

Brooke smiled sadly as she glanced over her shoulder at the dark hospital room where her husband lied unconscious from a car accident.

"I'm so glad the three of you are here." Brooke bit down onto her bottom lip, trying to fight back the tears that were building up in her eyes. "Thank you!"

She turned and led them inside of the hospital room. Jamie fought back the urge to gasp out loudly when he got his first glance at his Uncle Julian. He swallowed hard as he took in the sight of the battered man.

Julian's face was scratched and burned from the car wreck. His car had caught on fire before the firefighters could free him from the tangled metal. Most of his face was in bandages after many hours of surgery to try and fix his appearance.

"Oh god Aunt Brooke!" Jamie pulled his aunt into his arms, "I'm so sorry!"

Brooke gave her godson a tight squeeze before releasing him, "We're going to be okay!" She took Jamie's face into her hands. "Julian is going to pull through and make it out of this depressing room."

Brooke was losing faith in her husband's recovery more and more every day. The doctors already informed Brooke that they did not believe Julian would pull through and come out of his coma. Brooke was keeping him on life support because she knew couldn't handle losing him.

"I can't lose him." She turned to Julian and her strength disappeared as her knees gave out underneath her. Her body crumbled onto the cold floor next to her husband's hospital bed.

Lucas pushed Sawyer into Jamie's arms and he nodded for Jamie to step out into the hallway. Jamie obeyed his uncle and took his sleeping cousin outside.

"Brooke!" He pulled the distraught woman from the floor, "Brooke!" He held her against his chest. "Everything is going to be alright."

Brooke cried into his chest, "How do you know that Luke?" She pulled herself away from his hold, "Look at him! He isn't going to make it Luke but I can't handle losing him. I just cant!" She gave a slap to Lucas' chest, "I can't keep losing people."

Lucas was not fazed by the weak slap to his chest. "Brooke, you don't have to go through this alone." He watched her with sad eyes. "You have Haley and Nathan. Jamie is here for you and so am I!"

Brooke held back more tears as she wiped away her tear-stricken face with her fingers. Lucas moved her hands away and he began to wipe away her tears.

"What about your life in California? You can't just give all that up so come back here to look after me." Brooke stood still as he wiped away her tears.

"That is not a tough decision at all. Being here for you means more to me than any life in California." Lucas held her wet face in his hands, "Let me be there for you!"

Brooke sighed heavily before melting into his arms, "Thank you." She whispered into his chest as she stared at her husband.

"There is no need to thank me. I love you Brooke Davis…" Lucas glanced over at Julian, "Baker."

Brooke pulled back from their embrace, "I love you too Lucas Scott-Sawyer!"

Lucas frowned, "I didn't know the man changed his name to match his wife's last name?"

"I was just acknowledging Peyton's presence. Why didn't she come with you?" Brooke asked.

Lucas looked down at the heavy brown boots upon his feet, "Peyton and I are getting a divorce. I didn't get a chance to tell her about Julian before I jumped on a plane with Jamie and Sawyer to be by your side."

Brooke's brown eyes widened, "A divorce?" She squealed as she took her seat back at Julian's bed side, afraid of her knees giving out again. "What happened? Last time I saw you two…" She thought back, "You two were so happy with the birth of Sawyer."

Lucas nodded his head slowly as he leaned against the wall, "Things change and so do people." He peeled his eyes off of his brown combat boots. "I realized I made a mistake when I choose Peyton."

"You mean you want Lindsay back?" Brooke kept her eyes on a bruised and battered Julian.

"No." Lucas laughed nervously, "I never loved Lindsay the way I loved Peyton but I never loved Peyton the way I loved…"

A knocked sounded off on the door and Jamie stepped back inside.

"Sorry! Sawyer woke up and she started asking for you." Jamie pushed opened the door further and Sawyer raced inside.

"Daddy! I woke up and you weren't there." Sawyer ran into her father's arms.

Lucas caught his daughter and rested her on his hip. "Hey baby girl. I'm right here don't worry!"

"Hey!" Brooke waved to the small blond girl with big hazel eyes, "I'm your Aunt Brooke."

"I know!" Sawyer smiled widely, "Mama used to talk about you all the time and she would show me pictures of you two together before bed time. Aunt Brooke?"

Brooke smiled, "Yes?"

"Can I ask you a question?" Sawyer climbed out of her father's arms and she slowly made her way over to her aunt.

Brooke pulled the young girl into her arms, "Sure! You can ask me anything."

Sawyer looked from Jamie and her father. "Is it true that my mom stole my daddy from you?"

Brooke choked on a laugh, "Who told you that?"

Sawyer pointed her tiny index finger over to her cousin, Jamie, who was standing near the door to the hospital room. Jamie pretended to look around the room for another person to blame it all on.

"I don't know what she is talking about!" Jamie laughed nervously. "I never said such a thing!"

Sawyer gasped, "Yes he did! He told me on that airplane that we rode to get over here."

"Well do you want to know the truth?" Brooke peeled her stare from Jamie.

Sawyer nodded silently.

"Are you sure you want to know the truth?" Brooke asked the ten year old girl.

"I'm sure!" Sawyer crossed her hands over her heart, "I'm so sure!"

Brooke smiled sadly over at Lucas, "I was in love with your father but so was your mother, and your father chose to be with your mother over me."

Sawyer pouted, "I like you Aunt Brooke! You're honest with me." She turned to her father, "Why didn't you choose Aunt Brooke?"

Lucas couldn't find an explanation to give to his daughter so he remained silent and gave his shoulders a stiff shrug. "I don't know honey."

Lucas and Brooke locked eyes for several moments but a feeling of guilt washed over Brooke so she pulled her eyes from Lucas' eyes. She turned her attention back to her ailing husband.

_"How can I still feel like this towards him while my husband lies in his bed dying?"_ Brooke thought to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

"Lucas Scott! Are you trying to take my son away from me?" Haley Scott walked into Julian Baker's hospital room where Lucas sat at Julian's bed side with Brooke resting peacefully in his arms.

Haley quickly shut her mouth when she saw the sight of Lucas and Brooke. Her heart melted as she Lucas comfort Brooke at Julian's bed side. Haley had always known Lucas made a mistake when choosing Peyton over Brooke but she never voiced that to Lucas in fear he'd get upset.

"I brought the twins like you asked me too. They've been asking to see you, Brooke!" Haley nodded towards the door. "They are waiting outside with their cousins."

Brooke pulled herself out of Lucas' gentle hold, "Thank you Hales!" She gave the woman a tight squeeze, "I really want them to be able to say goodbye to their father today before he is officially gone."

Brooke stared at the door leading out to her where her sons were waiting. She was a nervous wreck and did not know how to go about showing the twins their dying father for the first and last time.

Lucas stood up from his sitting position at Julian's bed side and he grabbed Brooke's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We can do this together! I'm here for you, remember?"

Brooke closed her brown eyes as tears began to sting them, "Thank you." She whispered before taking a deep breath. "We can do this!" She looked over at Lucas and he gave her a reassuringly nod of the head.

Lucas led a shaking Brooke out to the hallway where her twins were drawing and coloring with their older cousin, Sawyer Brooke.

"Hey guys!" Lucas released his hold on Brooke's hand and took a spot on the floor in front of the two Baker boys. "I'm Lucas!" He held out his hands for each boy to shake.

Both Jude and Davis looked up at their mother for confirmation.

"It's okay sweetie!" Brooke smiled sadly down at her twins, "This is your Uncle Lucas!"

Jude and Davis smiled from ear to ear once they realized who the strange man standing in front of them was. They both placed their tiny hands in the middle of his large hand and gave it a gentle shake.

"I'm glad I'm finally meeting you two boys!" Lucas smiled, "Now your mom wants to talk to you and I want you two to be strong young men for her. Can we be strong for your mama?"

Jude and Davis both nodded in agreement.

"What is it mama? And when can we go see daddy?" Jude asked.

The twins had been informed by their mother of the car accident that put their father in the hospital but she never told them how badly their father had been hurt in fear of a tragic reaction from them.

Brooke kneeled down beside Lucas, squeezing the life out of his hand behind her back. "Daddy isn't going to get any better and we have to go say our goodbyes to daddy now."

The twins frowned in unison, confused by their mother's words.

"Why do we have to say goodbye to daddy?" Davis asked.

Brooke took a deep breath before she continued to try and explain what was happening to her twin boys, "Daddy is going to heaven now but before he does go he wants us to come and say goodbye to him."

"Is daddy dying?" Jude asked with a frown.

Brooke took both boys into her arms and held them there, "It is okay! Your daddy is going to be so much happier in heaven."

"But I don't want daddy to go to heaven! I want him to stay here with us." Davis cried into his mother's blouse.

Brooke's eyes slammed shut as she tried to hold back tears and appear strong for her sons. "C'mon, let's go say our goodbyes now."

She stood up but Davis refused to go inside of the hospital room with her.

"I'm not going!" Davis threw himself back onto the hospital bench he had been sitting on.

"I got this." Lucas mouthed to Brooke before sitting down next to Davis on the wooden bench. "Take Jude inside for his goodbye. Jamie and Sawyer go inside with your Aunt Brooke." Lucas turned his full attention on Davis. "I thought we promised to be strong young men for your mom?"

Davis crossed his arms over his chest, "I don't want my daddy to leave so I'm not saying goodbye."

"Trust me no one wants to see your father go anywhere but Davis…" Lucas swallowed hard, "Your father is in a lot of pain right now and if he went to heaven he would no longer feel any of that pain. Plus when your father is in heaven he will always be able to watch over you from the clouds."

Davis' brown eyes grew wide, "So daddy won't be gone forever? He'll be up there? There really is a heaven?" He pointed up to the roof.

Lucas smiled, "Yes there is a heaven! He will be able to watch down on you and be proud of his son! But I'm sure your father would like one last goodbye before he goes up to heaven to watch down on you and your brother."

Davis began to climb down from the wooden bench but stopped himself, "How do you know he will be watching down on us?"

"Because I have an uncle up in heaven watching down on me right now!" Lucas fought back tears as he thought about his Uncle Keith. "And every now and then I get a small sign from my Uncle Keith that he is watching over me."

"Yeah? Like what?" Davis asked.

"Like this." Lucas pulled out a picture of him and Keith standing by Keith's red Mustang that Lucas now owned. "I just found this picture in my car last week and I know it wasn't there before. It magically showed up on Keith's birthday."

Davis' eyes grew wide again, "That is so cool!"

Lucas chuckled, "It is very cool and very special. Your father will do the same things with you once he is in heaven smiling down on you but you gotta go say goodbye first."

A smile stretched across Davis' face, "I'm ready to go say goodbye now!"

"Good!" Lucas and Davis walked hand in hand into Julian's hospital room.

Brooke was holding Jude in her arms as the young boy cried into her shoulder While Haley was holding her emotional son in her arms as well as Saywer.

"He's ready." Lucas informed Brooke as he released Davis' hand.

Davis took a step toward his father but turned back to his Uncle Lucas and he gave him a hug, "Thank you Uncle Lucas!" He turned and climbed onto his father's hospital bed.

No one was able to hold back tears as they watched the ten year old boy talk to his father's unconscious body.

"Daddy, I'm going to miss you!" Davis lied his head down on his father's chest. "But I know you will be watching down on me and Jude and mama once you go to heaven. I can't wait to get cool signs that you are really there like Uncle Lucas gets from his Uncle Keith." Davis planted a soft kiss on his father's bandaged cheeks. "Bye daddy."

Davis jumped down from the hospital bed and ran into the arms of his Uncle Lucas.

"You did great!" Lucas picked up the boy with ease, "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks Uncle Lucas!" Davis pushed his wet face into his uncle's chest.

Jamie took Sawyer, Jude, and Davis out for ice cream while the adults stayed behind to pull the plug on Julian's life support. Lucas and Haley remained by Brooke's side as she signed the paperwork.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" Brooke kissed her husband's forehead, "Please be happy and wait for me up there although I don't plan on joining you anytime soon."

"Okay, you ready?" The nurse said Brooke.

Brooke laughed in disbelief, "Am I ready to pull the plug on my husband's life? No!"

Haley and Lucas wrapped their arms around Brooke.

"Everything is going to be okay, Brooke." Haley whispered into her friend's ear, "I promise!"

"Just do it!" Brooke cried out to the nurse.

As the machines all began to beep Brooke's body gave out. Lucas and Haley both caught her lifeless body and removed her from the room. With ease Lucas scooped Brooke up into his arms.

"Brooke!" Lucas called out to her. "Wake up, Brooke."

Haley bit down on her bottom lip as she watched her unconscious friend, "I'll go run and get her some water." She took off down the hallway towards the vending machines.

Lucas sat down on the wooden bench outside of Julian's hospital room. "Brooke, you have to wake up for me please!" He whispered against her cold pink lips. "Please!" He gently kissed her.

Brooke's body began to slowly react to the kiss planted upon her lips. "Luke?" She croaked out as she began to wake up.

Lucas smiled and held the woman against his chest, "Oh god, Brooke! You scared me half to death!"

"What happened?" Brooke scanned the empty hallway, "Where is Haley?"

"She ran to go get you some water after you fainted in the middle of the floor." Lucas said breathlessly. "Please don't ever do that to me again? You know I have a heart condition."

Brooke gasped and placed her petite hands over his chest, "Are you okay?" She gently took his face into her hands, "Do you need anything? Are you feeling any type of pain?"

Lucas laughed and shook his head, "You just said goodbye to your husband and you're asking me if I'm okay? You're pretty special Brooke Davis, you know that?"

Before Brooke could respond the nurses began to roll Julian's body from the hospital room. The thick white sheet covering over him gave his body a holy look.

Brooke buried her face into Lucas' muscular chest and she began to cry again. "How am I going to get through a whole funeral?"

"With your family and friends by your side." Lucas answered. "We're all here for you Brooke!"

Haley came running back down the hallway towards where Brooke and Lucas were sitting.

"Oh thank god you're awake!" Haley gasped for air after her run to the vending machines and back, "You scared me and Luke!"

She pushed the icy cold water bottle into Brooke's hands.

"I'm sorry!" Brooke just held onto the water bottle, "Can we go home now?" She asked quietly.

"Of course!" Haley pulled her friend up from Lucas' lap. She wrapped her arm around Brooke's waist to steady her, "You know I hate that you look so damn stunning right now, right?"

Brooke laughed softly as she made her way towards the parking deck where she parked her car. "Thank you Hales."

"No problem gorgeous!" Haley smiled widely.

Once they reached Brooke's black Audi, they all fell silent. Brooke fumbled for the keys in her purse and once she had them out she knew she couldn't drive with her being in such a frantic state.

"I don't think I can drive." Brooke whispered as she stared down the slick black key chain that was holding her car and house keys.

Haley removed the keys from Brooke's cold hands, "I can drive you home since Jamie has my car. I wanted to stop by your house anyways."

"Thank you Hales!" Brooke turned to Lucas, "You coming back to the house too?"

Lucas peeled his eyes off of his brown boots, "I'd love too but only if you want me there."

"Can you come back to the house please?" Brooke said with a deep pout, "I don't think I can handle being alone in that house with all of Julian's things still there."

Lucas pulled Brooke into his arms, "Then I'll be there by your side!"

Haley had been on the phone giving directions to her son, "Jamie will meet us at the house with the children in tow. You ready?"

Brooke sighed deeply, "I wish everyone would stop asking me if I'm ready. I'm not ready for any of these!" She climbed into the passenger seat of her sleek black car.

Brooke and Haley rode to Brooke's home in silence. Brooke took in all of the sights that she had been to lately with Julian but she closed her eyes when they reached the spot where Julian's car had been crashed into.

"You okay?" Haley asked as they were forced to stop at the red light where Julian had been hit.

"I will be once we get out of here!" Brooke whispered while her eyes remained shut.

Lucas followed behind Haley and Brooke and he too took in all of the sights his hometown had to offer. He had not been back to Tree Hill in almost ten years; the last time being when Nathan was kidnapped because Peyton refused to go back to such a 'drama filled' town. Lucas did not want to go back because his father had been released from prison and he didn't want to endanger his family but now his father was dead and he was back.

Lucas was surprised to find that Brooke and Julian had been living in the home Brooke had grown up in.

"You're still the girl behind the red door i see." Lucas said to Brooke as she slowly climbed out of her car.

Brooke smiled sadly, "I heard your voice every time I went through that front door. I missed being the girl behind the red door."

Lucas took Brooke into his arms as they made their way up the long walk way to the front door. They stopped at the front door as they waited for Haley to unlock it since she held the keys.

"Welcome home Brooke Penelope Baker!" Haley flipped on the lights as they all stepped inside.

Seeing everything as it was left before Julian's passing made Brooke sick to her stomach. How can her life look so perfect from the outside looking in but be so screwed up?

"I'm going to go lie down." Brooke made her way up the spiral staircase. She opened the door to their bedroom and sank down into the floor. She picked up one of his tee shirts that Julian left lying in the middle of the floor. "I told you how much I hated you leaving stuff in the floor." Brooke cried out as she held the tee shirt up to her chest.

"Thank you for coming back to Tree Hill on such short notice." Haley turned to Lucas as they stood downstairs.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders, "It really was no problem. When I heard that Brooke needed me I was on the next flight back."

Haley smiled and sat down on one of the white couches in Brooke's formal living room, "So where is Peyton?"

The divorced had been pushed out of his head. There was so much tragedy going on around him that his divorce seemed so small compared to it all.

"Last I heard she was on her way to Tennessee to go scout out a band or something." Lucas plopped down onto the couch next to Haley. "Did you tell her about Julian?"

"I tried to call her but all I got was voicemail three times so I left her a message about everything that was going on." Haley began to pick at a loose thread in her jeans. "Everything is just so different now, Luke."

Lucas let out a heavy sigh, "Tell me about it! This is not how I saw our lives turning out."

"Me either." Haley wished she had her husband there but he wasn't going to be back from his business trip in Europe until later that night.

"Welcome home Baker Brothers!" Jamie pushed opened the front door and the kids all ran inside.

"Where is mama?" Jude asked his Uncle Lucas.

Lucas nodded towards the spiral staircase, "She is upstairs sleeping so be very quiet so we don't wake her."

Brooke heard her sons arrive home and hearing their voices gave her a sudden strength. She suddenly had the strength to pick herself up off of her bedroom floor and drop her late husband's tee shirt.

"I'm going to miss you Julian but I can't do this to our boys. They need me more than ever right now and I can't hole myself up in our bedroom crying and wishing you were here with me!" She whispered before she left the large bedroom and made her way down the stairs.

"Mama!" Jude and Davis called out in unison.

Brooke took both boys into a tight hug, "Did you have fun with your cousins at the ice cream parlor?"

"Yup and we brought you back some ice cream!" Jude held up a pint of ice cream.

"We thought it might make you feel better." Davis added.

Brooke smiled and planted a kiss on each of their cheeks. "Seeing you two smile makes me feel so much better already! Mama is going to be okay."

It amazed Lucas that Brooke was still as strong as she had been in high school when they first met.

_"I was wrong about you, Brooke Davis!"_ Lucas thought back to the time after Brooke saved Peyton from being raped at a college party.

Brooke had shown so much grace and strength in that moment that it made Lucas like her so much more than he already had. She continued to show such strength and grace in dealing with the school shooting, him publicly dating her best friend, and after finding out she couldn't have kids.

"You're going to make it through this Brooke!" Lucas stood up from his sitting position on the couch, "You are the strongest woman I know."

Lucas' words made Brooke feel empowered, "Thank you Luke! That means a lot coming from you."

Brooke had been disappointed and heart broken when Lucas choose her best friend, Peyton, over her. The decision haunted her until she found that very same love she held for Lucas in Julian. When she was around Julian she forgot just how badly Lucas had hurt her by his decision but now Julian was gone and all of that pain was rushing back to her as she stared into Lucas' deep blue eyes.

_"He hurt me so bad but I love him so much." _Brooke thought to herself_, "I wish I didn't but I still do."_


	3. Chapter 3

"Tulips or lilies?" Brooke squealed up at her assistant and good friend, Millicent. "I don't care! They are just friends."

Brooke was planning Julian's funeral with the help of all of her family and friends.

"Just take a deep breath, Brooke!" Millicent sat down on the couch next to her boss, "Everything is going to be alright. We'll just have both tulips and lilies at the reception."

Brooke melted into Millicent's thin arms, "It's just so frustrating, Millie!"

"I know you just want everything to be perfect for your husband's final goodbye." Millicent said in a calming tone as she gently rubbed Brooke's back.

"Why has my mother damned me with this perfectionist gene?" Brooke playfully whined.

"Don't you know it is because we were built to be perfect!" Victoria Davis answered her daughter, "No matter the circumstance we are going to be perfect."

Brooke pulled herself off of the couch, "Mom!" She gave her mother a tight squeeze as they two women hugged. "Where is daddy?"

"He will be here later tonight!" Victoria smiled brightly at her daughter.

"Well I'm glad one of us is still happily married!" Brooke pouted.

It had been weird for Brooke to see her parents get remarried and finally be happy with one another but over the years it melted her heart to see them so truly happy together.

"Well you won't stay single for too long! Not when you're looking like that." Victoria took her daughter by the hand and twirled her around, "Tragedy looks good on you."

"Mom!" Brooke squealed as she was forced to turn.

"What?" Victoria brushed a few loose strands of hair from her daughter's face, "It's the truth!"

"She is right though Brooke!" Lucas walked into the living room. "You look amazing."

Brooke had offered Lucas and Sawyer a place to stay during their visit back to Tree Hill for Julian's funeral. They stayed in Brooke's guest rooms on the opposite side of the home from Brooke and her twin boys.

Brooke's pink cheeks suddenly began to burn, "Okay so steak or chicken?" She changed the subject away from her bright red cheeks.

"Steak." Lucas answered with a nod of his head, "How are you doing?" He held his arms out wide to hug her.

"I'm doing better!" Brooke stepped slowly into his arms, "It seems to be getting better every day."

"Mama!" Jude and Davis came darting down the spiral staircase.

Brooke sighed heavily, "They make it impossible to take a second to just breathe."

"Mama!" Jude and Davis ran in a circle around their mother and their Uncle Lucas.

Brooke laughed and grabbed both twins by the hand to stop them from running, "What is it?" She kneeled down in front of her twin boys.

"We just wanted to say good morning!" Jude wrapped his arms around his mother.

Brooke couldn't help but smile at her son's affection, "Thank you sweetie!" She pulled Davis into the hug, "Good morning."

"Good morning mama!" The twins said in unison. "Good morning Uncle Lucas and Grandma."

Lucas stepped back and watched the scene take place in front of him. Brooke was surrounded by so much love and it all started with her twins.

"Good morning!" He held his hands out for high fives from the twins.

Each twin gave his hand a gentle hit.

"Can we have pancakes and eggs for breakfast?" Davis asked his mother.

"Already got that one covered!" Jamie walked into the large white home with hands full of food. His mother, little sister, and father followed behind him and each of them had food in their hands from the cafe.

"Did someone say pancakes?" Nathan Scott called out from behind his tall son.

"Nathan!" Brooke squealed at the sight of her friend.

Nathan sat down the bags of food on Brooke's kitchen counter before turning and picking her up into a tight hug. "Hey ! How are you doing?"

Brooke and Nathan had grown close again after Nathan had finally accepted Julian as a best friend.

"I'm doing better!" Brooke planted a kiss upon his cheek, "I'm glad you're finally back from Europe."

Nathan sat Brooke down onto her two feet, holding her shoulders to make sure she was steady before he let her go. "I'm glad you're doing better!"

"I know I saw my baby girl walk in!" Brooke turned on her heel and opened her arms wide for her niece, Lydia Bob Scott.

"Hey Aunt Brooke!" The eleven year old girl ran into her aunt's arm. "I missed you!"

Lydia had been visiting her Aunt Quinn while her Uncle Clay was off on business with her father, Nathan.

"Did you have fun at the beach?" Brooke asked the small blond girl.

Lydia smiled widely and nodded once, "I'm sorry about Uncle Julian! I really liked him."

Brooke laughed and hugged Lydia again, "I'm sorry too! I'm gonna miss him but he wants us all to be happy while he is gone. Are you gonna be happy for your Uncle Julian?"

"I will!" Lydia smiled and ran around her aunt to greet her cousins, Jude and Davis.

"Why don't you guys go eat some breakfast?" Haley shooed the children off into the kitchen with her son, Jamie.

Brooke stood up from her kneeling position, "I'm not that hungry!" She plopped down onto her couch.

"Brooke, you gotta eat something!" Haley sat down on the couch beside her best friend.

"But I'm not hungry, Hales!" Brooke whined into one of the couch pillows.

"But the food is good, I promise!" Karen, Lucas' mother, walked into the living room with her daughter and husband in tow.

Brooke's head popped up from the pillow when she heard the familiar voice. "Karen?" She squealed at the sight of the older woman, "Oh my word! What are you doing here?"

Karen hugged Brooke, "I had to come! I couldn't pass up the chance to see you and tell you how sorry I am about Julian's passing!"

"Besides we were in the neighborhood!" Andy added with a laugh.

After Brooke cared for Lucas in the hospital Karen and Brooke grew close. They kept in contact after Karen left the country with her daughter to be with Andy in Australia.

"Hey Andy!" Brooke remained in her prolonged hug with Karen, "Lily?" She squealed at the sight of the now young woman.

Lucas had his arm wrapped around his little sister. "She has gotten pretty big, right?"

"Big?" Lily turned to her big brother, "I'm twenty-one years old now, Luke! That is a little more than getting big."

Karen went to hug her son and Brooke went to hug Lily.

"It's nice to see you again!" Brooke whispered to Lily.

"I'm sorry about Julian; although, I never got the chance to actually meet him my mom spoke so highly of him!" Lily squeezed Brooke. "You'll be okay!"

Brooke pulled away from her embrace with Lily, "I know I'll be alright but I just wish that being alright part would get here already."

"Well eating something will start the process for you to start feeling better!" Karen linked arms with Brooke and led her into the kitchen where Jude, Davis, and Lydia were sitting at the dining room table together.

"I guess I can have a little bit of eggs!" Brooke sighed lightly, "It won't hurt anything if I do."

Andy pulled his stepson aside. "Hey, how you holding up?"

Lucas gave his shoulders a stiff shrug, "I'm doing pretty well! I'm just worried about Brooke." He ran his fingers through his long brown hair.

Andy placed his hand on Lucas' shoulder, "You look pretty rough man!"

Lucas frowned and looked down at his flannel pajama pants and gray V-neck, "I do?"

Andy laughed, "Yeah! How about you get a haircut before the funeral gets here?"

Lucas touched his long hair, "You really think I need one?"

"Oh yes!" Nathan jumped into the conversation, "You need a haircut pretty badly." He left the conversation and walked into the kitchen to eat some breakfast.

"It'll make Brooke happy I'm sure." Andy said before he followed Nathan into the full kitchen.

"Well I'd do anything for Brooke." Lucas ran his fingers through his hair and sighed, "Anything for Brooke." He repeated to himself as he entered the kitchen.

The adults were gathered around the countertops fixing their plates while the kids were sitting down at the large dining table. Karen and Brooke were sitting together at the end of the long wooden table talking and eating.

The sight of his mother caring after Brooke like a daughter in law made Lucas happy.

"This is the life you could have had if you would have just listened to me!" Jamie whispered into his uncle's ear.

"What?" Lucas turned to his nephew.

"Don't pretend as if you don't remember!" Jamie pushed a piece of bacon into his mouth, "Before the wedding to Peyton I asked if you ever loved Aunt Brooke and why you weren't marrying her instead."

Lucas shook his head, "You were just a boy back then of course I wasn't going to listen to you."

Jamie nodded toward his grandmother and his aunt, "But you have to admit that I was right!" He went and took a seat next to his cousin, Lily, at the dining table.

_"You were right!"_ Lucas thought to himself as he watched Brooke with his mother.

Haley waved her hand in her best friend's face, "Earth to Lucas Eugene Scott!"

He snapped out of his own thoughts, "What happened?"

"You mean other than you staring at Brooke for the past five minutes?" Haley took a sip of her orange juice. "Is being back in Tree Hill bringing back old memories for you?"

Lucas gave his head a solid nod, "Everywhere I look I'm thinking back about something different."

Haley wrapped her arm around Lucas' shoulder, "I know what you mean! Everything is just so different and so much more complicated than when we were in high school."

"Life was so easy back then." Lucas locked eyes with Brooke from across the room. "Sometimes just I wish we could just go back!"

"Would you change anything?" Haley asked.

Lucas kept his eyes glued to Brooke's deep brown eyes, "I would change everything!"

"I wouldn't change anything." Haley left Lucas' side and took a seat next to her husband at the now crowded dining room table.

Lucas took a deep breath before joining his family and friends at the large dining room table.

"Uncle Lucas!" Jamie called down the table to his uncle. "We are trying to clear this up so help us please! Didn't Aunt Brooke hate you at one point in time?"

Lucas almost spat out the orange juice he had been sipping on. "You hated me?" He playfully pouted at Brooke.

"I never hated you!" Brooke pulled him into her arms.

"Oh but that isn't what you told me Aunt Brooke!" Jamie pointed his finger at his aunt. "Remember?"

Lucas looked up at Brooke, "You really hated me?"

"I didn't hate you but I didn't like seeing you!" Brooke finally admitted with a laugh full of confusion. "It was after Haley and Nathan got married for the second time." She whispered into his ear.

Lucas' playful pout turned into a real pout at the painful memory of Nathan and Haley's wedding reception. That had been the end of Lucas and Brooke after she found out that he'd kissed her best friend, Peyton.

"Have I ever apologized for that day?" Lucas whispered.

Brooke laughed and nodded, "Only a billion and one times! We've both moved on from that…" She looked up at her god son, "Unlike our lovely nephew over there!"

Jamie threw his hands in the air, "I only asked because Sawyer wanted to know!"

Sawyer gasped loudly and went to hit her cousin but accidentally flung her eggs in his directions.

"Sawyer Brooke!" Lucas sat up in his chair.

Brooke touched his arm and shook her head, "This could turn out to be fun!" She rubbed her cold grits onto the tip of his nose.

Lucas laughed and looked down at the thick white grains sitting on the tip of his nose. "Oh I see!" He pretended as if he was going throw his eggs at Brooke but he turned and flung them at his nephew.

"What was that for?" Jamie began to load his spoon with eggs to fling back at his uncle.

"For starting this mess!" Lucas tossed a biscuit at his nephew.

Brooke couldn't help but laugh when the biscuit hit Nathan in the head instead of Jamie. Nathan looked up from eating his plateful of bacon.

"Oh that is it!" Nathan loaded his grits and flung them at his brother.

Everyone began to fling leftovers from their breakfast at one another. The food fight had Brooke laughing for the first time since her husband's passing. She felt lightness in her attitude and her entire being as she watched her family and friends playfully fight one another with their food.

Her laughter came to a stop when someone threw a biscuit and it hit her in the forehead. The dining room fell silent as everyone waited for Brooke's reaction.

"Oh it is so on now!" Brooke picked up the biscuit and tossed it at her best friend, Haley, but the biscuit flew past Haley's head and landed at the feet of her old friend, Peyton Sawyer.

"This looks like so much fun." Peyton stepped over the biscuit that had been thrown at her feet. "Mind if I join?" She pursed together her thin pink lips.

Brooke gasped and ran over to her best friend, " !" She took her best friend into a tight hug.

"Hey !" Peyton hugged her friend, "I'm so sorry about Julian. I just found out!"

"It's okay! I'm going to be fine." Brooke sighed lightly, "I'm just so happy you're here."

The atmosphere changed as Peyton and Brooke turned back to the messy dining room.

"Mama!" Sawyer jumped up from her chair and ran to greet her mother.

Peyton hesitated to hug her messy daughter, "Hey sweetie!"

Brooke tried to ignore the tension in the air between Peyton and Lucas. "I guess the food fight is over now!" She laughed as she took in the mess covering the wooden table and floor of the dining room.

"I'll get a mop!" Karen got up from the table.

"Don't worry about any of it! We'll clean it all up for you." Haley joined Karen in Brooke's pantry to help find the cleaning supplies.

"Davis and Jude go upstairs and take a bath. Jamie can you go help them clean off!" Brooke pleaded with the young man.

"Anything for you Aunt Brooke!" Jamie hugged his aunt, "You look good Peyton." He turned and disappeared up the stairs with Jude and Davis.

Lucas remained seated at the table with Nathan, Lily, and Andy.

Lily fidgeted at the tension so she decided to go help her mother and aunt clean. "I can sweep!" She offered.

"I have to make a phone call." Andy pulled out his phone from his coat pocket and headed outside.

Peyton and Brooke together stared at Lucas.

"I didn't know you were coming back to Tree Hill." Lucas finally spoke to his soon to be ex-wife.

Peyton kneeled down to their daughter, "Go upstairs and get cleaned off with your cousins!" She shooed her daughter out of the room.

Sawyer peeled a piece of dried grits from her forearms, "Okay mama!" She ran upstairs to be with her cousins.

"I didn't know I was coming until I got the voicemail from Haley about Julian being in the hospital." Peyton explained, "I didn't come to start drama, I swear! I just came to support my friend." She wrapped her arms around Brooke.

Lucas let out a heavy sigh, "I don't mind you being here. We both care for Brooke equally so I understand!"

Brooke smiled, "Well I'm glad you two can be adults about the whole thing!" She joked, "Now let's clean up all of this mess."

Lucas shook his head and took Brooke's hands into his own, pulling her away from Peyton's hold. "I want you to go clean off and relax while we all clean up down here."

"Are you sure?" Brooke eyed the mess again, "I don't mind cleaning up!"

"Brooke, go relax and let us take care of you!" Peyton spoke up.

"Alright!" Brooke smiled and disappeared up the stairs.

Peyton and Lucas watched as Brooke made her way up the stairs and when they heard Brooke's bedroom door close they turned to one another.

"You still love her." Peyton commented.

"What?" Lucas looked over at his ex.

Peyton laughed and looked down at her black pumps, "The way you look at her! You never looked at me that way! You still love her but this time I actually don't mind. I'm happy for you!" She smiled reassuringly, "You need to tell her how you feel."


	4. Chapter 4

"Good morning!" Lucas tip toed into the Baker twins' room to wake them up for their father's funeral.

Jude and Davis were lying wide awake in their beds when Lucas walked in. "Good morning!" They said in unison.

Lucas sat down in the middle of the room and gave the soft carpet of the bedroom a pat. "We're going to make your mom something nice before she wakes up so she feels happy and loved today!"

Jude and Davis climbed out of their beds and formed a semi-circle around Lucas. The door to the bedroom opened again and Sawyer walked into the room with an arm full of art supplies.

"I got out everything that I packed in my bag." She spread out the markers, paint, colored pencils, scissors, and pencils in the middle of the formed semi-circle.

"What are we going to make?" Jude asked.

Sawyer began to pass out colored and plain sheets of paper to everyone, "You are going to make whatever you want! Make something that you think your mom is going to love."

"I got an idea about what I'm gonna make." Davis grabbed a pink sheet and a pair of scissors, "I'm gonna make mama my heart!"

"You totally stole my idea!" Lucas teased the young boy, "But that is okay you can have it!"

Sawyer got an idea, "Why don't we all give Aunt Brooke our hearts as a present?"

"That's a great idea, honey." Lucas grabbed a red sheet of paper and a pair of scissors, "And we can decorate them however we want so they can all be different." He suggested to the children.

Jude smiled widely, "Mama is gonna love all of these hearts!"

"Jude! Davis?" Brooke woke up an hour later to a still and quiet house. She pushed open the door to the twins' bedroom and found them sitting in a circle with Lucas and Sawyer. "What is going on in here?"

Everyone stood up from their position on the carpeted floor.

"We made you something mama!" Jude held his blue heart behind his back.

"You did?" Brooke squealed and kneeled down to her son, "Well what is it? Let me see!"

Davis took a step forward and stood alongside his twin brother, "We wanted to give you our hearts!"

The two twins revealed their hearts to their mother at the same time. Jude drew his family in stick figures on the front of his blue heart while Davis wrote out the names of his family on his pink heart.

"Oh guys!" Brooke took in the sight of the different colored hearts, "They are beautiful!" She took them both into a tight hug.

"Uncle Lucas made you a pretty awesome heart too!" Davis pulled away from his mother's hold and pulled Lucas closer.

Lucas blushed as he looked down at Brooke. The pair locked eyes and Sawyer had to clear her throat before Lucas presented Brooke with his red heart.

On the red heart Lucas wrote, _"You will always be the girl behind the red door!" _

Brooke gasped at the neatly cut out heart, "Lucas! This is gorgeous." She held the red heart up to her chest, "Thank you!" She turned to Sawyer, "Did you make me one too?"

Sawyer nodded and handed Brooke her black heart. Drawn on the black heart were veins and the words read, "It all gets better when you're surrounded by people you love."

"You totally got this dark, artistic gene from your mother!" Brooke pulled the blond haired girl into a hug, "Thank you. I love it!"

Brooke held all of the hearts up to her chest as she scanned the bedroom with wet eyes. "Thank you guys so much for all of the hearts! I have so much love on my side." She began to cry and she didn't want anyone to see so she left the bedroom.

Sawyer nodded towards the door when she met her father's eyes.

"What are you doing with your neck?" Lucas pretended to be oblivious to what his daughter was motioning towards.

"For goodness sake," Jude stepped forward. "She wants you to go after my mama!"

Lucas choked on a laugh, "How do you know little man?"

"We may be little Uncle Lucas but we're pretty smart!" Davis crossed his arms over his chest, "Our mama is Brooke Baker and our daddy is Julian Baker!"

Lucas smiled, "So you all want me to go after Brooke?" He felt silly asking a bunch of children if he should comfort Brooke or let her be.

"Go for it!" Jude and Davis said in unison. "We like you with mama."

Sawyer linked arms with her father and began to pull him out of the bedroom, "Go comfort her but pull back on being so love struck around her. Give her the chance to grief her husband that she just lost five days ago."

Lucas turned to his daughter, "How do you know so much?"

"My mother is Peyton Scott and my aunt is Brooke Baker!" Sawyer said with a laugh as she pushed her father in the direction of Brooke's bedroom. "Give her time to heal but be there for her." She reminded him before she disappeared behind the twins' bedroom door.

"Knock, knock." Lucas knocked on the door and pushed it open at the same time. "Brooke?"

Brooke was sitting at her vanity applying her make-up. "Come in!" She closed her silky black robe over her black lace bra and matching underwear.

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." Lucas stepped inside and closed the bedroom door behind him. "You are okay, right?"

Brooke put down her make-up brush and turned to Lucas, "It is just an emotional day for me! I have to say goodbye to my husband for the second time." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "My emotions are just all over the place but those hearts really made me feel happy on such a sad day."

Lucas smiled and leaned against the wall next to her vanity, "I'm glad you liked them! It was Davis' idea to make a heart to give to you today."

Brooke's hands flew up to her chest, "It was?" She looked up at the pink heart that was now taped onto her vanity's mirror. "He is so creative."

"He gets that from his mother!" Lucas looked at Brooke's reflection in the mirror, "He is pretty proud that you are his mother. He even said so himself."

Brooke laughed, "I walked in on him telling his teacher that he is so good at drawing because his mama is Brooke Baker!" She ran her fingers along the shape of the pink heart.

"You are a pretty amazing mom." Lucas sat down next to her on the vanity's cushion. "I never got the chance to tell you how happy I am that you finally got all of your wishes granted. I saw how hard it was for you to have to adopt."

Brooke looked at Lucas through his reflection in the mirror, "That feels like so long ago. We really haven't seen each other in forever."

Lucas looked down at his hands, "The last time I saw you, you were in your store window on the phone. I could tell you were finally happy because you were smiling from ear to ear."

"I was planning a surprise trip to California to visit Julian on the set of his big movie. I was finally ready to tell me that I loved him!" She sighed lightly, "I had no idea that you and Peyton were leaving Tree Hill for good."

Lucas shook his head and looked up from his hands. "We just wanted a fresh start. Dan had just gotten out of prison and we didn't feel like Tree Hill was safe for Sawyer with a monster like that being on the loose."

"Dan wasn't a monster." Brooke whispered, "He had the chance to change before he passed away!" She didn't want Lucas to get angry with her for defending his late father so she quickly changed the subject. "We better get dressed so we can head over to the brunch."

Lucas stood up from the vanity but bent down to kiss the top of Brooke's curls. "I'll go help the boys get into their suits."

Brooke grabbed him by the hand, "Thank you for all of your help. I'm really gonna be sad when you and Sawyer head back to California."

Lucas remained silent as he kissed her hand. "Me too," He hadn't thought about leaving Tree Hill again because he felt like he was finally home. He had a big decision to make about his life after Julian Baker's funeral and now that his feelings for Brooke were beginning to grow again, he had no idea if he was going to stay for good or leave after the week was over.

"Mama, you look pretty!" Davis clapped as his mother made her way down the staircase to the front door.

Brooke had on a black floor length dress with a gold rope tied around the waist. "Why thank you, handsome." She planted a kiss upon her Davis' cheek. "You look handsome too!" She adjusted Jude's tie before kissing his round cheek.

"Is everybody ready to go?" Lucas rushed down the stairs with a white button up on and black trousers. He stopped in his tracks when he got his first glance at Brooke in her dress.

"Don't be so love struck!" Sawyer whispered into her father's ear as she made her way past him and down the stairs. "You look amazing Aunt Brooke!" She hugged her.

"So do you Sawyer!" Brooke fixed one of Sawyer's tight blond curls, "You look just like your mother did when she was your age. Doesn't she Lucas?"

Lucas was forced to snap out of his frozen stance in the middle of the staircase. "She does! And she was right about you looking amazing Brooke." He took Brooke by the hand and gave her a quick twirl.

"Well thank you both." Brooke ran her fingers across her sleeked back hair, "I'm ready to go if you are!"

Davis opened the front door for his mother, "After you mama."

"Thank you!" Brooke smiled and walked out of the front door.

Waiting at the bottom of the driveway was a long black limo that Brooke rented to carry her and her family around for the day. The first stop was the brunch before the church service.

"Brooke Penelope Baker!" Karen gasped as she walked over to the breakfast bar set up against the wall in the large venue, "You look pretty amazing."

Brooke smiled and ran her hands down the sides of her black dress, "Thank you Karen!" She took the older woman into a hug. "I'm so glad you're here!"

Karen wrapped her arm around Brooke's waist after she broke away from their hug. "I will always be here for you!"

"You're like a second mother to me." Brooke felt tears began to sting the back of her eyes so she began to fan her face with her hand.

"I'm glad you called her your second mother!" Victoria walked up behind her emotional daughter. "No one will ever be able to replace Victoria Davis."

Brooke laughed and shook her head, "Of course not mom!" She squealed when she saw her father step around her mother, "Daddy!"

The tall gray haired man picked his daughter up from the marble floor with ease, "Hey baby girl. I've missed you!"

"When did you get back in Tree Hill?" Brooke held onto her father to steady herself after being lifted off of the ground.

"I got back late last night but I didn't want to wake you from your sleep." Ted caressed his daughter's pink cheek. "How are you holding up?"

Brooke took a deep breath, "I've been doing pretty well! I almost feel guilty that I haven't cried more."

"The twins have been taking great care of their mother." Victoria was kneeled down in front of her grandsons as she fixed their striped ties.

"They love Brooke!" Lucas reached around Brooke and grabbed a wine glass full of orange juice.

Brooke smiled sadly down at her sons, "I love them too but Lucas has been taking great care of me as well. He really has been supportive through it all." She rubbed his back.

Ted held his hand out toward Lucas, "Thank you for being there for my little girl! It takes an honorable man to do that."

Lucas shook Ted' hand. "It really is no problem, sir."

"Sir?" Ted turned to his daughter, "I like him already! It looks like you won't be a widow for too long."

Brooke squealed and pushed her father. "Daddy!"

"What?" Ted walked back over to his table with his wife.

"I'm sorry about that." Brooke turned back to Lucas with bright red cheeks.

"It really is no problem! It's nice to have your father's approval as a possible candidate for your next husband." He said with a laugh as he waited for Brooke to finish making her plate of food.

Brooke laughed and grabbed herself a wine glass of apple juice. "Well it looks like the pressure is on!" She said sarcastically as they made their way back to the table.

After giving everyone an hour and a half to finish their brunch, Brooke stood up in front of the room with a microphone in her hand.

She cleared her throat to capture the crowd's attention. "I just wanted to say thank you for coming out and supporting me and my boys on such a tragic day!" She scanned the room full of familiar faces, "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be thanking you all so much today but I hope you all know that I mean each and every thank you sincerely."

Everyone who attended the brunch was transported over to the church by black buses. At the church Brooke allowed for Jude and Davis to cry into her designer black dress as they saw their father's casket for the first time. Brooke managed to hold back her tears so she could be strong for Jude and Davis.

"You ready?" She kneeled down to her sons, "Remember daddy is watching you so let's go out there and make him smile!"

Brooke, Jude, and Davis were standing next to stage. The boys were about to say their goodbye speeches to their father's casket. Davis didn't seem to be nervous at all but Jude wouldn't let go of his mother's hand.

"Now we're going to let Julian's sons, Jude and Davis, say goodbye to their father." Haley had been up on the stage singing her song Blue Sky.

Haley walked off of the stage and handed the microphone to a confident Davis. Davis walked out onto the stage and stopped when he got to his father's white casket. Brooke walked out after him with Jude attached to her hand.

"My mama told me that my dad is watching down on us all and that this was our time to make him smile." Davis placed his tiny hand on his father's closed casket, "I believe that is true because my Uncle Lucas said that his Uncle Keith watches down on him and that he gets signs from all the time." Davis ran his hand over the casket. "I love you daddy and I believe that you are smiling at us all right now. I know you think mama looks pretty today." He turned to his mother and grabbed her free hand, "And I know you are proud of Jude and me for coming on stage to say goodbye to you. We will miss you daddy and we still love you."

Davis handed Jude the microphone as the crowded church all clapped in unison at the young boy's short speech. Davis' speech gave Jude confidence to deliver his own speech. He pulled his speech out of his pocket.

"Hey daddy." Jude kissed the casket. "I just wanted to say that I miss you all the time but mama says you are happy up there in heaven so we have to be happy down here on earth." He wiped tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. "I love you daddy and I promise to keep mama and Davis happy while you are away!"

Brooke dabbed away her tears with a tissue as she kneeled down and took her sons into a hug on the stage. No one was able to hold back tears as they watched the family embrace and comfort one another.

Lucas scooted out of his seat and made his way over to the side of the stage to help Brooke, Jude, and Davis off of the steps to the large stage. He took Jude into his arms and held Brooke's hand as they made their way back to their front row seats.

"Thank you." Brooke whispered into Lucas' ear as she gave his hand a tight squeeze, "For everything. The boys really love you and we are going to miss you."

Lucas kissed Brooke's forehead, "I'm going to miss you too."

Brooke felt her knees grow weak as she climbed out of the limo once they arrived to Julian's grave site. Lucas saw Brooke's knees buckle so he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"You're okay, Brooke!" He whispered to her as they walked over to the burial site.

Brooke sat a single red rose on top of the casket before she took her seat in the front row of white chairs lined up around Julian's casket.

"Julian Baker was a father, a husband, a best friend, and my son." Julian's mother, Sylvia Baker, spoke at her son's burial. "My son was my best friend and I had a hard time handing him over to Brooke but I saw how happy she made him." She winked over to the widow, "I grew to love Brooke once I saw how lovingly she watched over my son. I knew she would take care of him with such care and I could just see them growing gray and old together so me being here speaking at my son's funeral breaks my heart but like my wonderful grandsons mentioned, I know he is living happily in heaven..." Unable to finish her speech, Sylvia began to sob and shake.

Brooke took the older woman into her arms. "It is okay, Sylvia!" She walked the woman back to her seat in the first row. "You did good!"

"I just miss my baby!" Sylvia cried out.

"I didn't know Julian Baker as well as everyone else here!" Lucas stood up to speak to distract people from a distraught Sylvia. "And as I listen to all of the kind words everyone has to say about him, I am saddened by the fact that I will never get the chance to become a good friend of Julian's. Looking around today I can see that he was an amazing best friend and an even better father and husband. There is so much love surrounding him and I'm certain that he is looking down on this event and he is smiling wide."

As Lucas took his seat again Brooke buried her face into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and gently rubbed her back as she cried into the shoulder of his button up. "Let it out Brooke!"

Brooke managed to pull herself together in time to end the burial service. Jude and Davis grabbed a handful of dirt and released it onto their father's grave. Brooke kneeled down beside Jude and Davis as she watched the casket continued to be lowered down into the ground. She began to sob violently but Jude and Davis wrapped their arms around their mother.

"It's okay mama!" Jude laid his head against his mother's while Davis wiped away his mother's tears.

"Mama is just going to miss daddy, that's all!" Brooke hugged each boy tightly, "But I'm glad I have the two of you by my side."

The remaining guests of the burial were escorted back to the venue where the brunch was held earlier in day.

"You did good Brooke!" Peyton sat down beside her best friend, "I'm proud of you."

Haley took a seat on the other side of Brooke, "I'm pretty proud of you too!" She pulled Brooke into a hug and allowed for Brooke to rest her head on her chest. "The service was beautiful."

"I just feel so drained." Brooke whispered as she stared blankly at the wine that filled her wine glass. "Why was it so much harder than I thought it would be?"

"Because this just makes it all final." Peyton handed Brooke a tissue from her clutch purse, "It makes the loss so much more real when you see the casket disappearing into the ground."

Brooke peeled her eyes off of her wine glass and turned them onto Peyton, "Where are the twins?"

"They are over by the dessert bar with Lucas." Haley sat Brooke up so she could see the three boys standing happily together.

Lucas was holding Jude over the chocolate fountain so he could get chocolate onto his strawberry while Davis snacked on his chocolate strawberry.

"They really love him." Brooke thought aloud. "They never like anybody this fast but they really like him." She sighed. "They are really gonna miss him when he leaves for California."

"Lucas didn't tell you?" Peyton asked.

Brooke raised an eyebrow as she took a sip of wine from her glass, "Tell me what?"

"He decided to move back to Tree Hill. He told me this morning after I told him I'm coming back to take back control of Red Bedroom Records." Peyton informed Brooke.

"Why is he staying?" Brooke's eyes fell back onto Lucas with her sons.

Peyton shrugged her shoulders, "Something about how much he misses Tree Hill and everyone in it."

"Well I'm glad he is staying." Brooke mumbled.

Peyton cleared her throat to get Brooke's attention, "He isn't the only one staying!"

"Oh course I'm glad you're staying too!" Brooke wrapped her arms around her best friend, "I need you here with me by my side."

Peyton knew Lucas' real reason for staying in Tree Hill. She knew that he had grown close to Brooke's twin boys as well as develop feelings for Brooke again. She knew that he wanted another chance with Brooke now that there was nothing standing in the way except for Brooke's grief and guilt.


	5. Chapter 5

"Lucas Eugene Scott!" Brooke squealed as she raced down the spiral staircase in her home.

It had been a four months since her late husband's funeral and life had gone back to normal for Brooke and the Baker twins.

Jude and Davis were back in school and began to made it onto the junior league basketball team after being convinced by their Uncle Lucas to try out. Brooke was back to working in her children's boutique, Baker Man, while also spending some time working at the café that she still owned half of with Haley Scott.

Lucas and Sawyer had officially moved back to the small town of Tree Hill. Lucas was in works to take over Julian's show, Unkindness of Ravens, for it's final season. Lucas and Sawyer stayed with Brooke and the twins because Karen, Lily, and Andy decided to stay in Tree Hill for the remainder of the year. Lucas finally found a home for him and Sawyer to live in.

"I got you!" Lucas laughed and grabbed Brooke by her waist.

Brooke and Lucas were not officially together. Brooke felt that it was too soon after her husband's passing for the two to become a couple. She did; however, want the two of them to explore their feelings for one another so they began dating non-exclusively.

"Okay, you got me!" Brooke stopped fighting Lucas' soft touch, "Why are you forcing me to say goodbye to you?"

Lucas laughed and released his hold of her waist, "It is a ten minute walk to my new house, Brooke! You can walk there and call that your exercise for the day."

Brooke plopped down her couch and pouted, "That is so much further than walking just down the hall to see you."

Lucas sat down on the couch beside Brooke and pulled her into his arms. "I will be over here every day checking in on you and the boys anyways."

Brooke laughed and buried her face into his chest, "I know! I know!" She pulled herself up so she was sitting upright on the couch. "You ready to get going? If we're going to have the house ready by the time Sawyer gets out of school we're gonna rush the painter and movers."

Lucas checked the time on his black wrist watch. "Yeah let's go!" He pushed himself off of the plush white couch in Brooke's formal living room. He stretched his hand out to her so he could help her up from the couch.

She slapped her hand into his palm and allowed for him to pull her off of the couch, "Let's go get this done!"

"Walking or driving?" Lucas dangled his car keys in the air.

Brooke snatched the car keys away from him, "Driving! Of course."

"Then let's go!" Lucas draped his arm over Brooke's shoulder and the pair walked out of the large white house towards Lucas' old red Mustang that sat at the end of Brooke's driveway. The Mustang was once Keith's but Lucas now cherished it as his own.

"I've grown to like this car." Brooke tossed Lucas the car's keys, "But I'm still afraid to drive it."

Lucas laughed and caught the keys mid-air. "Why?" He ran around the car and opened the passenger side door for her. "Ladies first!"

"Thank you, handsome!" Brooke smiled and climbed into the vintage car, "Because I would break it into a million and one pieces and Keith would be mad at me from heaven." She laughed and pulled her seat belt over her chest.

Lucas ran back around the car and got into the driver's seat. "I'd be mad at you from Earth for Keith!" He turned on the car and within second they were driving down the street towards his new home.

Brooke hit him in the arm but she stared at his profile. "Why am I crazy about you, Lucas Scott?"

He glanced over at her as he pulled into the driveway of his new home. "Because it's always been us!"

"What?" She asked, confused.

Lucas unbuckled his seat belt so he could turn in his seat to face her. He took her hands into his own. "It's always been us! That day after we won the championship, I made the mistake and walked away because you were convinced that Peyton was the one for me and so was everyone else."

"It was the way you looked at her, Luke." Brooke thought back to their senior year of high school. "She was always the one thing that could tear us apart."

Lucas gave her hands a gentle squeeze, "She wasn't the one that was pulling us apart. It was me and my doubt that you loved me."

"What?" Brooke squealed, "You doubted my love for you? Why?"

He chuckled at her high pitch scream. "You pushed me towards Peyton at the championship." He held his index finger up. "After Nathan and Haley's wedding you broke up with me after learning about a kiss that went on between me and a dying Peyton."

Brooke pulled his finger down from the air, "A kiss always means something! Our kisses always meant something."

"I know that now." Lucas looked down at their joined hands, "But I really thought you gave up on us when you came back to Tree Hill. I was hoping you came back to be with me but I soon realized that you hadn't come back to be with me."

"But I did, Luke." Brooke frowned as tears formed in her eyes. "I came back to see if you would have me but Peyton got to you first."

Lucas shook his head slowly, "That night Peyton called you from Vegas to say that we were getting married that was supposed to be the other way around."

"What?" Brooke's frown disappeared.

He took a deep breath before continuing. "I called you first that night but you never answered my call and after three missed calls I assumed it was because you were avoiding me after we told each other we loved one another earlier that day. I called Peyton because I was so convinced that I could fall in love with her again."

Brooke hit her hand against his chest, "That was the dumbest decision you could have ever made!"

"Ouch!" Lucas rubbed the spot where she hit him on his chest. "It doesn't seem like it was too bad of a decision. I mean I got a Sawyer Brooke out of it and you got Jude and Davis!"

Brooke smiled sadly and placed her hands over his chest where she'd hit him, "I forgot about that part." She whispered.

A knocked sounded off on the window of Lucas' side of the car.

"Mr. Scott?" The painter had been waiting at the new home for almost twenty minutes for the couple to exit from the red Mustang.

Lucas rolled down the window, "Yes?"

"I need you to open the door so I can get started on the upstairs rooms." The painter informed Lucas.

Lucas glanced over at the time on his dashboard and his eyes widened, "Wow. I'm sorry!" He turned off his car and climbed out.

Brooke followed Lucas and the painter up the three stairs leading to the front door. "So what colors did you bring?"

The painted nodded over to his collection of paint waiting on the white porch. "Black, Grey, Pink, Red, and Tan?"

Brooke clapped her hands together, "That sounds perfect for the entire upstairs!"

"Pink?" Lucas questioned as he walked inside.

Brooke ignored his questions and led the painter upstairs. "This is the room we want to start with." She was standing in the middle of Sawyer's new bedroom.

"What colors are we looking at?" The painter swished gum around in his mouth.

"Sawyer would hate an all pink room!" Lucas stood in the doorway of the empty bedroom.

Brooke shushed him, "I would never do that to her! I know how much she is like her mother but I also know that she possess an edge of her Aunt Brooke inside of her dark soul!"

Lucas laughed and crossed his arms over his chest. "So what colors?"

"I want do red walls." Brooke opened up the double door closet, "I want you to paint these double doors black but I want to brighten up the inside of this closet by adding a touch of grey. And in cursive I want you to write her name in pink paint!"

"Brighten up?" The painted squinted.

"She is a dark soul." Brooke's hands flew up to her chest, "Trust me! That is light for her."

Lucas laughed, "Are you sure this is what she wants?"

"I asked Sawyer before she left for school this morning. She wanted a room just like her mother's." Brooke gave a shoulders a shrug. "But I wanted to give it a twist with the name in the closet."

"How does she know what Peyton's room used to look like?" Lucas asked.

"I have pictures! Duh, you know from the set of Julian's show." Brooke still felt a pinch in her gut when she spoke of her late husband's name.

"Can I get to work now?" The painter asked as he began to unroll the protector for the windows and floor.

Brooke and Lucas left the bedroom so the painter could get to work on painting Sawyer's bedroom. "The furniture should be here soon."

Just as Brooke finished her sentence there was a knock on the front door.

She raced down the stair case and jumped down from the stair case to the front door. "Please, come in!" She greeted the movers as she moved aside to let them inside of the empty home.

"I think we need music so we don't get bored." Lucas playfully suggested as he and Brooke unpacked boxes that the movers left behind.

"That sounds like that could be fun!" Brooke stood up from opening a box that was labeled kitchen. She pulled her phone out from her jean's back pocket and pressed play after a few silent moments.

"You make my heart beat faster…" The lyrics played from Brooke's iPhone.

Lucas looked up from unpacking a painting when the song began to play, "Is this what I think it is?"

Brooke smiled widely and nodded, "The song that played on our first date when I kicked your butt in pool!" She moved her hips in a circle to the beat of the catchy song. "It's the way you smile..."

Lucas fell to his knees, "You've got me on my knees!" He mouthed the words to Brooke.

She began to dance around him but he soon got off of the floor and began to dance with her to the pop song.

"They certainly are weird!" One of the movers said before leaving the house with his coworkers.

After the song went off Brooke melted into Lucas' arms. Both adults were breathless after their silly dance with one another.

"We're so old!" Brooke laughed as she tried to catch her breath. "We can't dance like we used to."

Lucas laughed, "I saw that you still had some moves left in you!"

Brooke playfully shook her body. "Why thank you!"

The painter cleared his throat from the top of the staircase. "I finished the first bedroom!"

Brooke and Lucas looked at one another and both began to laugh.

"Let me show you to the other bedroom." Lucas managed to get out between laughs.

Brooke sat down on the bottom stair to caught her breath, "Don't let him talk you into doing pink!" She called up the staircase after the painter.

A pillow tumbled down the stairs and hit Brooke against the back.

"Lucas Eugene Scott!" Brooke called out but before she could dash upstairs to chase after him the front door to the home opened.

"Aunt Brooke?" Sawyer dropped her black backpack on the wooden ground next to the black front door.

Brooke's eyes widened at the sight of her niece, "What are you doing home so early?"

"I always get home at three-thirty." Sawyer closed the front door. "Is my room done yet?"

Lucas raced to the stairs once he heard his daughter's voice coming from downstairs.

"It isn't ready yet but it will be after you come back from the ice cream parlor." Lucas called down the staircase.

"I'm on it!" Brooke linked arms with the short blond girl standing at the front door. "Let's walk!"

Sawyer turned on the heel of her combat boots and left out of the new home with her Aunt.

"So how was school?" Brooke walked down the sidewalk with Sawyer.

Sawyer shrugged her shoulders, "Boring as always."

"I always found school to be boring too so I found ways to make it fun." Brooke bit down on her lip as she thought back to high school. "On second thought…"

Sawyer laughed and shook her head. "I know all about the wild side of Brooke Davis!"

Brooke pretended to be shocked, "Of course your mother would tell you about that."

"Actually my dad and Jamie told me about it!" Sawyer informed Brooke.

The two girls walked through the parking lot and into the small ice cream parlor on the corner of their block.

"Mint chocolate, please." Brooke ordered for herself.

"I'll just have chocolate!" Sawyer ordered after Brooke. "So did you have fun today with my dad?"

Brooke looked up from eyeing the different ice cream flavors in the window of the counter. "Moving boxes isn't always fun!"

Lucas wanted to wait to tell Sawyer about him and Brooke's new relationship because he wanted them to become exclusive first.

"I'm sure you two took a break from moving boxes." Sawyer raised an eyebrow.

Brooke laughed, "What do you know about that?"

"I know that my dad is crazy about you." Sawyer sat down at the nearest round table to wait for her ice cream.

"What?" Brooke grabbed their scoops of ice cream before taking a seat across from the teenager.

Sawyer thanked Brooke before taking her chocolate ice cream, "I see it in the way he becomes dumb founded whenever you walk into a room! And I see the way his face lights up when you laugh at his jokes."

Brooke almost choked on her mint ice cream, "You notice all those little things?"

"Please, Aunt Brooke! I am thirteen not three." Sawyer said with a smile. "And I also know that you two are hiding your relationship from me and the twins."

"You know too much!" Brooke said with a laugh.

Sawyer's smile disappeared as she leaned toward Brooke, "I'm really happy that you two are together."

"You are?" Brooke asked.

Sawyer nodded her head once. "My mom and dad were never as happy as you and dad are when you're together! And I want both of my parents to be happy because I know they aren't getting back together this time."

Brooke almost cried at the girl's sweet words, "When did you become so wise?"

"I think I get that from my Aunt Brooke!" Sawyer said with a playful wink.

"I think so too!" Brooke took Sawyer into a tight hug, "I'm proud that you carry my name."

Sawyer held up her spoon in the air, "That reminds me! Do I keep calling you Aunt Brooke now that you're with my dad?"

Brooke couldn't help but laugh. "I don't know! How about we go ask your father?"

"Oh I can't wait to see the look so his face when I do ask him!" Sawyer leapt up from the table.

Brooke and Sawyer dashed back to the house.

"Oh Lucas!" Brooke called up the staircase once they were inside, "We're back."

Lucas came running down the stairs at the sound of the front door opening. "Everything is ready now!"

Brooke stood at the bottom of the stairs with her arms crossed while Sawyer stood with her hands on her hips. Both girls had deep frowns on their faces.

"What?" Lucas frowned.

"She knows about us!" Brooke tried not to laugh as she forced the frown upon her face.

Sawyer took a step forward, "That's right I do! And I want to know one thing?"

"What is it?" Lucas sighed.

"Do I keep calling her Aunt Brooke?" Sawyer asked with a laugh.

Brooke dropped her mean posture and laughed alongside her niece.

Lucas clutched the breasts of his button down shirt, "You two almost gave me a heart attack! You both know that I have a bad heart."

Brooke and Sawyer took Lucas into a group hug. "We're sorry!" They said in unison.

"So are you okay with me being with your Aunt Brooke?" Lucas asked his daughter.

Sawyer squinted up at her father, "So I do still call her Aunt Brooke?" She ran around her father and up the stairs to her new bedroom.

"I guess this now means we're non-exclusive." Brooke whispered against Lucas' lips.

Lucas smiled widely, "I've been waiting to hear those words!"

"Oh. My. God!" Sawyer yelled from her new bedroom.

The teenager's yell forced Lucas and Brooke to run up the stairs to see what was going on.

"I love my room!" Sawyer hugged Brooke, "Thank you." She turned and hugged her father.

"Thank Brooke." Lucas draped his arm over Brooke's shoulder. "This was all her! I just unpacked a few wall decorations."

Brooke shrugged, "I'm just that great!"

"You really are!" Sawyer planted a kiss upon Brooke's cheek, "Dad! Marry her and quick before someone else takes her away from us."

Lucas and Brooke both choked on laughs as they locked eyes.

"I don't plan on going anywhere so no worries or rushing." Brooke managed to get out past the lump forming in her throat.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, Peyton!" Brooke knocked on one of the double doors to her friend's recording studio office at the back of the all ages' club, Tric.

Peyton Sawyer sat behind her wooden desk in the corner of her office. Piles of paper work sat on her desk while Chris Keller sat on the edge of the wooden desk.

"Oh hey, Brooke!" Peyton looked up from the paperwork she had been filling out to finalize her taking back full control of her record company, Red Bedroom Records.

Peyton started the record company after arriving back into Tree Hill when she was just twenty-one years old. But after marrying Lucas Scott, Peyton had gotten pregnant and been too sick to work so she'd handed full control of her company over to her best friend, Haley Scott. Haley remained with full control after Peyton and Lucas moved to California shortly after Sawyer's birth.

"Chris Keller!" Brooke greeted the boy with a single nod of her head and a purse of her thin lips.

The musician stood up from his spot on the edge of Peyton's office desk. "Brooke Baker!" He wrapped his long arms around the brunette's waist. "I knew you'd come to your senses and come to me."

Brooke laughed, "Notice how I greeted Peyton before I greeted you."

Chris shrugged his shoulders. "So you saved the best for last! You've always had great taste."

Brooke placed her hands over Chris' chest and gave it a gentle pat. "Oh, Chris. It is never going to happen between us!"

Chris sighed heavily and tightened his hold on Brooke's curvy hips. "You mean again?"

Brooke remained silent but shot Chris a look that made him drop his hold on her hips.

He placed his glasses over his brown eyes. "Chris Keller has always been able to take a hint!" He disappeared behind the double doors of Peyton's brick office.

"He has not changed a bit since I first met him in high school!" Peyton rolled her hazel eyes.

Brooke laughed and took Chris' spot on the edge of Peyton's desk, "I've grown used to him. He isn't that bad once you get used to him!"

"Haley said the same thing." Peyton clicked her pen closed and sat it down on the paper work she'd just finished signing. "So what's up?"

Brooke shrugged, "I just thought I'd come by and check up on you! I haven't seen you in like two weeks."

"I've been kind of busy with trying to get the record company back from Haley and Chris' control." Peyton leaned back in her office chair. "But I just finished the last bit of paper work so I'm free to catch up!"

Brooke clapped her hands together and smiled. "Good! We can catch up while the kids are in school and at practice."

"Can you believe Sawyer actually joined the cheerleading squad?" Peyton got up from her office chair and gathered up her pea coat and matching tan studded purse.

"You joined the cheerleading squad for your mother and she is doing it for her mother!" Brooke smiled and linked arms with her best friend. "Like mother like daughter."

Haley waltzed into the brick walled office out of breath, "Am I too late?"

"You're just in time for our girls' day out!" Brooke said with a reassuringly nod. "Is Quinn still coming?"

Haley frowned and shook her head. "She is experiencing some morning sickness so she decided to stay home for the day and lie in bed."

"Pregnant people are no fun at all!" Brooke held out her hand to Haley. "Well she is gonna miss out on one hell of a day."

Haley slapped her palm against Brooke's and the two women linked fingers. "What did you plan for us to do today?"

Brooke bit down on her bottom lip as a smile pulled her lips up at the corners. "You will just have to wait and see! I want you both to be surprised."

"That phrase always ends in someone getting arrested!" Peyton laughed. "Haley's wedding shower, remember?"

Brooke shrugged her shoulders and led her two best friends out of club Tric. Sitting in the cement parking lot of the club was a large white party bus.

"Oh goodness! This is even worse than I thought." Peyton laughed and dropped her hold on Brooke' arm.

"What is this, Brooke?" Haley stood with her hands on her hips outside of the large white bus. "Are we partying like rockstars today?"

Brooke stepped onto the party bus ahead of Peyton and Haley. "Come inside and you'll see! It is awesome in here."

Haley and Peyton looked at one another before slowly climbing onto the large bus.

The bus was decked out with a full bar and a pole stood in the middle of the aisle of black leather seats.

"Brooke, what in the world is all of this?" Haley found a seat inside of the bus. "This is crazy!"

Brooke had already been seated by the bar searching for champagne for the women to drink. "We are thirty-six year old women!"

She found the champagne and she filled up three champagne glasses filled with the bubbly drink.

"So?" Peyton took a seat next to Haley. "So, we're thirty-six!" She took a glass of champagne.

"We act like we're already in our forties." Brooke scooted to the edge of her seat and handed Haley a glass of champagne. "For a few hours let's just act like we're young again. Life is short!"

Haley hesitated before she scooted over to the edge of her seat and grabbed the glass from Brooke. "I'm in! I could use a little fun in my life right now."

Peyton looked at the two faces of her best friends and smiled seductively. "Oh, I'm so in!"

Brooke held up her champagne glass. "Here is to a day filled with young fun!" She laughed.

"Cheers!" Peyton and Haley shouted out in unison as they clinked glasses with one another.

"Oh my goodness. I can't believe this place is even still open." Peyton gaped at the sight of the lingerie store that sat in the down town of Tree Hill.

"So much has happened in this store!" Brooke opened the door and moved aside to let Haley and Peyton walk inside. "Both good and bad!"

"Yeah like you sending me and Nathan here for our first date after you tried to break us up!" Haley looked around the tiny lingerie shop.

Brooke laughed and shrugged, "You can just call me the match maker of Tree Hill because I take full responsibility for Naley!"

"You are not why Nathan and I are together!" Haley laughed.

"I totally am. If I wouldn't have set up that date you would have never forgiven Nathan and I know for a fact that it was the night that you fell in love with him." Brooke playfully stuck her tongue out at Haley.

Models interrupted the girls' conversation as they exited from the three dressing rooms and all of them were decked out in lacy lingerie.

"Now this sight looks familiar!" Haley smiled. "Now are you sure you aren't trying to remake the night of my bridal shower?"

"Yes Hales because my world revolves around you!" Brooke laughed and walked a circle around the models to get a good look of what they each had on. "This is so we can make our men happy…" Her eyes fell upon Peyton's broken smile. "And for you, Peyton, this is to catch you a good man!"

Peyton's mouth dropped open. "I am perfectly happy being single."

"Since when?" Brooke blurted out before she could stop herself. She covered her mouth with her hand, "Forget I said that! Totally lost my filter there for a second!"

Peyton pointed her index finger at Brooke and opened her mouth to say something, but Haley stepped in between both women.

"I'll take this one." Haley turned Peyton's body towards the model wearing the sheer lace robe over a matching black night gown. "What will you have?"

Peyton was distracted momentarily by Haley turning her away from Brooke. "I like the blue bra with the purple lace. I guess I like the robe too!"

"And we will take it all!" Brooke pulled out her debit card and handed it over to the cashier. "Box up three of everything."

"You are making Nathan one happy man!" Haley leaned against the counter where the cashier was ringing up Brooke's card.

"How? Am I modeling all of this for him tonight?" Brooke joked. "Now I'm pretty sure he'd appreciate that and think you were a pretty cool wife!"

Haley hit Brooke on the butt with her clutch purse. "I know he would, Miss Sex Tape!"

Brooke winced at the memory of her and Nathan's high school hook up and of the night all of their friends found out. "I was hoping everyone had forgotten about that because I totally had!"

"Doesn't it feel like we're sometimes swingers?" Peyton asked with a laugh. "I mean like we all keep dating the same set of people: Nathan, Lucas, and Julian."

Haley shook her head. "I've only been with Nathan! You two keep swapping life partners."

Brooke and Peyton both dropped their mouths open but as they looked at one another their mouths began to slowly close.

"That is kinda true!" Brooke and Peyton mumbled in unison.

A knock sounded off on the glass window of the tiny boutique. Lucas was standing on the other side with a crew of people surrounding him.

"Quick! Hide the stuff." Brooke whispered to the store owner who was helping box up the women's new purchases.

The tall dark skinned woman did not budge. "I rented out the store to a Lucas Scott so he could film a few scenes for his show here."

Brooke rolled her chocolate brown eyes. "Thanks for warning us, Claire!" She grabbed two bags and headed outside to her waiting boyfriend.

"What are you doing here?" Lucas leaned down and kissed Brooke on her lips.

"Buying something to spice these old ladies' up a bit!" Brooke nodded her head towards Haley and Peyton who were standing a few feet behind her. "What scene are you filming here at the boutique?"

"I can't discuss that with you!" Lucas winked down at Brooke. "Did you buy something for me in there?"

"I totally would have but I didn't know that you wore bras!" Brooke said sarcastically. She pulled down the shoulder of her blouse and revealed her bra strap. "I bought this for you though. You excited yet?"

Lucas' blue eyes widened at Brooke's seductive behavior. "I am indeed!"

Brooke playfully pouted. "Too bad our next date isn't until this weekend."

"It's times like this that I wish we were married or at least living together so I could come home and just see you!" Lucas brushed his lips against Brooke's. "Wanna sneak away?"

Brooke laughed. "Your ex-wife is standing behind us and I'm pretty sure she can hear us right now!" She kissed Lucas and smiled up at him. "I'll see you later."

She re-entered the white party bus with Haley and Peyton, each woman carrying two bags full of new lingerie.

"You and Lucas are so cute together." Haley commented. "It's about time you two ended up together!"

Brooke smiled from ear to ear as she fell down onto her seat on the bus. "I know right! I waited a long time for this."

Peyton cleared her throat and began to look through her pursue.

"Oh I'm sorry Peyton." Brooke sat up straight in her seat. "We were being so insensitive!"

"What?" Peyton laughed and casually waved her hand in the air. "It's totally fine!"

Brooke reached across the wide aisle and took Peyton's hands into her own. "I'm dating your ex-husband!"

"So?" Peyton shrugged her shoulders. "You two started dating after Lucas and I decided to divorce, not while we were married."

"I could never do that to you…" Brooke trailed off as she realized what Peyton had meant by her comment.

"But I did do that to you." Peyton finished Brooke's inner thoughts. "I feel bad because I did it to you multiple times but silly me couldn't take a hint. Lucas kept going back to you because in the end it's supposed to be you and him, not me and him."

Brooke pulled Peyton into a hug. "You really shouldn't feel bad. It helped me and it gave me the chance to find such an amazing love in Julian! It also gave me Jude and Davis, my two greatest loves."

Peyton pulled away from her hug with tears in her eyes. "I've never apologized for forcing my way into Lucas' life and pulling him away from you."

Brooke gently took Peyton's warm face into her hands. "You shouldn't be apologizing to me. It was so long ago!"

"Ugh, it got so depressing so fast!" Haley sniffled into a wet tissue. "Today was supposed to be our fun day out with the girls."

Brooke laughed and slid back into her seat. "You're right! No more tears ladies." She wiped her fingers over her dry cheeks. "Now let's have fun!"

"What is the next stop on this tour of fun?" Haley asked. "Please don't let it be the strip club!"

"We are thirty-five year old women! That means we are way too old to be sliding down a pole anywhere that isn't our bedroom." Brooke shook her head. "We are going to the spa next."

All three women cheered in unison. The party bus pulled in front of the spa and the women climbed off of the bus.

"I haven't been here since my bachelorette party." Brooke smiled sadly as she read the sign above the glass double doors leading into the spa.

"Are you going to be okay going in?" Peyton asked. "If not we can go someone else!"

Brooke peeled her eyes off of the spa's green and white sign. "No, I'm fine!" She took both of her best friends into her arms and sighed sadly. "I just miss him sometimes and I feel guilty for being so happy with Lucas."

"Brooke, you shouldn't feel guilty about anything!" Peyton said. "Julian would want you to be happy, healthy and smiling wide."

"And you're all three of those things." Haley brushed Brooke's auburn colored hair behind her ear. "I haven't seen you smile this big in such a long time! You got to love and live with both of your soul mates."

Brooke smiled sadly as a tear drop fell down her cheek. "I never thought of it that way!"

"Yes you lucky bitch!" Peyton laughed. "You always told me that we all have at least two soul mates and look at you now! You got both of them."

Brooke laughed and wiped away her tears. "You're right. I'm pretty damn lucky!"

"Thanks for rubbing it in our faces!" Haley teased.

"Says the girl who met her soul mate in high school," Peyton exclaimed.

Brooke nodded in agreement to Peyton's comment. "You are pretty lucky Hales! You and Nathan found each other so early and you both just knew that you were done looking for the one."

"My life is pretty amazing!" Haley playfully gave herself a pat on the back. "But it wasn't all easy. Nathan and I were pushed so hard that we almost gave up and annulled our marriage."

"No one was gonna let Naley split up!" Brooke squealed. "Never gonna happen."

Haley laughed. "Well this time no one is gonna let Brucas split up either. Sorry Peyton!"

Peyton playfully gave Haley a push. "Thanks for the reminder!" She laughed. "You guys I'm fine with Brooke and Lucas being together! And I'm okay with being single for a little while."

"Well today let's make you pretty so you can find yourself a man! You already have the lingerie for the first sex night!" Brooke began to pull her two friends inside of the luxury spa.

Brooke, Peyton, and Haley were escorted to a room to get their nails and feet done first before their massages.

"Wanna play the what if game like we used to in high school?" Brooke asked.

Peyton and Haley both laughed. "Sure!" They said in unison.

"Okay I wanna go first!" Brooke clapped her hands together. "What if Jake comes back to Tree Hill?"

Haley shrugged. "I'd say hello!"

"I was asking Peyton!" Brooke reached over and pushed Haley in the arm. "Peyton?"

Peyton bit down on her bottom lip and smiled. "I'd ask him to marry me!"

"What?" Brooke squealed. "Already? Why?"

"When you find the one, you find the one! You wouldn't want to keep them waiting for someone else to take." Peyton said.

Brooke squinted as she thought about Peyton's words. She knew Peyton was right. "Okay it's your turn!"

"What if Lucas walked through that door…" Peyton nodded toward the door, "And proposed to you right...now?"

Brooke opened her mouth to answer but before she could the door cracked open and Lucas poked his head around the door.

"Brooke?" Lucas whispered.


	7. Chapter 7

"If this is a joke…" Brooke turned to Peyton and roughly pinched her arm. "Then it is not funny and I'm going to kill you when this is all over!"

Peyton laughed and motioned her hand toward the door Lucas Scott was poking his head through. "Why don't you just go and see what Lucas wants?"

Brooke squinted at Peyton as she slowly slid herself out of the large chair she'd been sitting in getting her nails done. "What are you doing her, Luke? How did you know I was here?"

She stopped a few feet away from the door so she could pull it open to let him all the way in.

"You can come in, Luke! We aren't all sitting around naked in here." Haley spoke up from her chair behind Brooke.

Lucas laughed nervously as he made his way into the large spa room. "Brooke, I just wanted to talk to you for a moment."

"About what? It can't wait until later?" Brooke's hands flew up to her chest. "Luke, you're really starting to scare me!"

Lucas laughed and took both of Brooke's hands into his own. "Please don't be scared. One of us has to remain sane in this moment!"

"What moment?" Brooke squealed as she gave his hands a tight squeeze. "Luke, what is going on?"

Lucas took a deep breath before slowly making his way down onto his knee. He released his hold on Brooke's hands and pulled out a ring box from his jacket's pocket.

Brooke gasped loudly but could no longer find the words to speak.

"Brooke Penelope Davis-Baker." Lucas smiled nervously up at his girlfriend, "I want us to be together forever and we still have time for that since we aren't old yet!" He laughed. "Will you marry me?"

Tears fell down Brooke's cheeks and blurred up her vision. "Yes!" She croaked out with a laugh. "Yes!" She threw her arms around Lucas' neck. "Yes!"

Lucas sighed a sigh of relief when he heard Brooke's answer to his proposal. "Thank you!" He lifted her up in his arms and twirled her around. "I love you so much!"

Brooke smiled and took Lucas' face into her hands. "I knew I was gonna say yes after you acknowledge that I am still a Baker!"

"Well you're gonna be a Scott now!" Haley squealed before taking the couple into a group hug. "Congratulations love birdies!"

"Oh like you didn't know he was going to propose to me like this!" Brooke smiled at Haley.

Haley put her hands over her heart. "I promise you, Brooke, I did not know that he was going to propose to you! I mean I knew he was thinking about it but I didn't know it would be today. I didn't even know that he had a ring!"

"So you didn't help him plan this?" Brooke pouted. "That would have been the perfect story to tell people!"

"No, I did." Peyton stood up from her sitting position in her spa chair. "I helped Lucas plan all of this."

Peyton walked over to the spa door and opened it, revealing Brooke's sons Davis and Jude. Both boys were holding a bouquet of red roses for their mother.

Brooke felt tears begin to sting the back of her eyes as she embraced her sons in a giant hug. "Why would you help him propose to your best friend?" She questioned Peyton.

Peyton shrugged her shoulders. "I know how much he loves you and I know just how much you love him back! I wanted to fix what I messed up which is destiny! You two are destined to be together."

Brooke squealed and pulled Peyton into a tight hug. "I love you P. Sawyer! This was so sweet of you to do!"

Peyton laughed. "Well it was P. Scott but I think I want my Sawyer back now."

Brooke laughed along with Peyton, "Thank goodness. Now I can have my last name but I still don't have my ring!" She held out her hand to Lucas. "I didn't even get a chance to look at it!"

"Well that is a good thing. You don't care what the ring looks like!" Lucas smiled as he slid the large three carat diamond onto Brooke's petite ring finger.

"Oh. My. Word." Brooke said as she got the first look at her engagement ring.

The oval cut diamond was surrounded by smaller diamonds that continued onto the band and around again.

"Do you like it mama?" Jude asked.

"We helped pick it out!" Davis smiled widely up at his mother.

Brooke's heart melted. "I love it!" She hugged her twin boys again but this time pulled Lucas into the hug. "I love my boys so much!"

"We love you too mama." Jude and Davis said in unison.

Haley and Peyton both stood in the corner of the room waiting with eyes full of tears.

"You did a good thing for them, Peyton." Haley said.

Peyton smiled sadly down at Haley. "It wasn't easy but I think I have always knew that it was supposed to be them together in the end."

Haley smiled. "I think we all kind of knew!"

"Well thanks for the hint all those years ago!" Peyton joked.

"So does this mean we get to call you daddy now?" Jude asked Lucas as he was climbing into his twin sized bed.

Lucas laughed and sat at the end of the child's bed. "You can call me whatever you'd like to call me; Lucas, dad, father, etc."

"Father?" Jude scrunched up his nose at the sound of the word. "It sounds so weird. How about daddy?"

Lucas smiled widely and nodded once, "Daddy sounds fine to me!"

"Will my other daddy be mad if we start calling you daddy?" Davis asked from his bed across the room.

Lucas patted a spot on Jude's bed for the young boy to join him. "Your father would want you two to be happy and I think he would be more than happy that you called me daddy. It means you're opening up to me! I plan on being that father figure to you boys for the rest of my life."

"Well you already are a great father thingy." Davis said with a giggle.

Lucas laughed and playfully pulled the boy into a headlock. "Well I'm glad you approve of my performance."

Brooke stood in the doorway to her sons' bedroom. "I thought I made it clear that it was bedtime?" She cocked her head to the side and smiled. "This doesn't look like bed time to me!"

"Uh-oh!" Davis raced over to his bed that sat across the large bedroom from his brother's wooden bed.

Brooke laughed and chased Davis over to his bed. "Time for the bed time monster to rear her ugly little head!"

"But mama you could never be ugly to me or Davis or daddy!" Jude said simply from his spot on his bed.

Brooke's heart melted at her son's compliment. "You are going to break a lot of hearts baby." She turned and blew her son a kiss.

Jude reached into the air and pretended to grab the airborne kiss. "Goodnight mama."

"Goodnight sweetie!" Brooke turned and planted a kiss upon Davis' warm forehead. "Goodnight sweetie. Sleep tight!"

"Goodnight!" Davis sang back to his mother. "I love you."

Brooke smiled and brushed Davis' brown hair from his eyes. "I love you too. Both of you!"

"Goodnight daddy!" Both boys called out to Lucas who stood waiting for Brooke in the doorway to the children's bedroom.

Lucas could not help but smile widely and brightly at the boys' acknowledgement of him during their bedtime routine. "Goodnight sons!"

Brooke skipped over to her fiancé and pulled him out of the room into the hallway. "They really love you! And that makes me so happy."

"I love them too, Brooke." Lucas smiled and scooped up his fiancé into his arms. "And I really love you!"

Brooke's index finger flew up to her thin pink lips. "Shhh!" She nodded toward the double doors that led to Jude and Davis' bedroom.

Lucas nodded once before he took off down the hallway running with Brooke in his arms.

Brooke squealed loudly into his chest as he ran away with her. "Lucas Eugene Scott!"

Lucas plopped Brooke down onto her bed once he reached her bedroom. "Brooke Penelope Davis-Baker!"

"Did you know?" She propped herself up on her elbows. "I dropped my last name completely and just took on Julian's?"

Lucas' eyebrows raised on his forehead. "What happened to you never wanting to give up your last name for anyone?"

Brooke shrugged. "I met the right guy to give that all up for! And it just so happens that I met that guy in you too." She poked his chest where his heart was.

"You'd drop Julian's name and take on mine?" Lucas asked.

Brooke smiled and pulled Lucas down onto the bed. "I'd be more than happy to! I'd also be more than happy to…"

She brushed her lips against his neck. Lucas quivered at the feel of Brooke's touch.

"I have a proposition…" Lucas stopped Brooke despite his heart beginning to race.

Brooke pouted and pulled herself away from him. "What is it?"

"I propose that we don't have sex until our wedding night!" Lucas said with a reassuring nod.

Brooke's eyebrows shot up her forehead. "None? Not even a little bit?"

Lucas chuckled and tucked a loose auburn colored hair behind Brooke's ear. "None at all!"

"But why?" Brooke plopped down onto the bed. "What brought this one?"

"Because I want our wedding night to mean something! And I want to try and be traditional this time." Lucas said.

Brooke frowned in confusion. "It will be our first night as a married couple. What else will it mean?"

"I want it to be our first night together, period." Lucas shrugged. "You didn't want to have sex until you knew we were going somewhere and I obliged."

Brooke shook her head and sighed heavily. "Okay, fine!"

"So we have a deal?" Lucas said, surprised.

Brooke winced before nodding her head. "No sex until our wedding night! I can't promise that I won't seduce you or turn you on though!" She kissed Lucas.

Lucas sighed deeply against Brooke's lips. "Maybe we can start this tomorrow?" He pulled her on top of him.

"Lucas!" Brooke squealed.

"Well good morning soon to be bride!" Haley greeted Brooke with a wide smile as Brooke walked into Karen's Café.

Brooke yawned loudly but covered her mouth with her hand. "Good morning, Hales!"

Haley giggled at Brooke's yawn. "I take it that you and Lucas had a long night celebrating your engagement?" She nudged Brooke in her side.

Brooke rolled her chocolate brown eyes. "No! Lucas doesn't want to have sex until we get married. He wants us to be as traditional as possible this time around."

Haley frowned. "What?"

Brooke laughed and nodded her head. "That is what I said when he first told me! He is turning totally Naley on me!"

"How is that Naley?" Haley asked.

"You totally did this to Nathan in high school before your second wedding, remember?" Brooke raised both eyebrows to her friend.

Haley began to nod her head slowly. "Well it worked out for Nathan and I so why not just give it a try?"

"Oh I'm trying but you see how hot my fiancée is! It is hard to keep my hands off of him." Brooke bit down on her lip.

Haley remained silent but continued to nod her head slowly.

"I'm still waiting for that EW you and Lucas always gives us whenever we say stuff like that about the other!" Brooke put her hands on her hips.

Haley laughed. "Lucas may be like a brother to me but I still see that he is an attractive man!"

Brooke squinted as she looked at Haley. "You totally used to like him or you still do!"

Haley cleared her throat and slapped her chest as she choked on her own laughter. "Okay, fine! I used to like Lucas."

Brooke's eyes widened. "When? Your crush on him better not have magically disappeared two seconds ago!"

Haley shook her head, "I had a tiny crush on Lucas my first two years of high school but it magically disappeared when I met my future husband, Nathan Scott." She flashed her wedding ring. "You know the man I have two children with!"

Brooke took a deep breath and pulled Haley into a hug. "Sorry if I'm being a little paranoid about Lucas!"

"No I understand." Haley hugged Brooke back. "Every time you tried to get back with Lucas there was always someone standing in the way who always wanted him like Lindsay…"

"And that dumb ass. What was her name again? Oh yeah, Peyton Sawyer!" Peyton took a seat at the cafe's bar.

Both Haley and Brooke stood frozen as they stared wide eyed at Peyton.

"I'm sorry…" Haley mumbled.

Peyton laughed and casually waved her hand in the air. "I would be mad if you were trash talking but lets face it. It is the truth! That damn Lucas Scott can be so irresistible sometimes."

Brooke cleared her throat and shot Peyton a look.

"Not that I find him irresistible anymore!" Peyton cleared up. "Not at all."

"Mm." Brooke pursed her lips together.

Peyton sighed. "I'm your friend, Brooke! Friends trust one another."

Haley laughed out loud but instantly felt bad so she turned and pretended to be looking for something in the kitchen of the café.

"You're right P. Sawyer!" Brooke frowned and walked around the counter to hug Peyton. "I'm sorry. I know you don't want Lucas back."

"Thank you for finally giving me credit for moving on!" Peyton smiled. "I promise this time around you will have no trouble out from me. I will not be the girl sitting in the back of the church waiting to object to the marriage."

Brooke smiled sadly. "I hope so because Peyton I really want to spend the rest of my life with this man." Tears began to fill to the brim of her eyes. "I love him so much and I always have!"

Peyton began to feel guilty for taking Lucas away from Brooke all of these years. "Now is your time to finally do that! He is all yours now Brooke. No one is standing in your way this time!"

Brooke wiped her tears with the back of her sleeve. "I can't wait to marry him and call him my husband forever!" She laughed through the tears. "He makes me so happy. I feel so much joy in my heart when I look at him."

"I hope you two are over there talking about me!" Lucas said with a laugh as he entered the café but his laughter soon came to a halt when he saw that his fiancée was crying. "Oh no, Brooke! What happened?"

Brooke smiled widely and ran over to Lucas. He caught her in his arms.

"Are you okay?" Lucas held her.

Brooke brushed her lips against his. "I'm perfectly fine! In face I'm more than fine. I'm extremely happy!"

Lucas smiled and picked her up. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!" She laughed and kissed him. "I love you, Lucas!"

Lucas' smile widened. "I love you too, soon to be bride."

"Oh my word!" Brooke bit down on her lip and closed her eyes.

"What?" Lucas asked.

Brooke laughed and shook her head. "We all used to say that you and Peyton were personality twins but now I see that it is really you and Haley!"

"What?" Lucas laughed.

Brooke took his face into her hands. "I'm marrying the male version of my best friend!"


	8. Chapter 8

Brooke took a step back and tilted her head to the side. She took in the sight of the white wedding gown that was sitting on a life sized mannequin.

She heard heels clicking around the front of her children's boutique, Baker Man. She'd open the boutique with Julian and her parents as partners right before her sons' first birthday.

"I'm back here." Brooke called out to whoever was wondering around the store.

The boutique was closed so she knew it had to be one of her friends or her mother who was in town for her soon to be wedding day.

"Oh, Brooke!" Haley poked her head around the corner. "Your dress looks beautiful!" She walked into the back room and greeted her friend with a tight hug. "You finished it pretty fast considering the fact that you decided to have two dresses instead of one just last week."

Brooke smiled and bit down on her bottom lip as she stared at the dress. "Well I did have motivation to finish if you know what I mean." She nudged Haley in the side.

Haley covered her ears with her hands and shook her head. "I do not want to hear about how you want to jump my best friend's bones!"

Brooke laughed and mouthed the words instead. "Your best friend is a hottie and I want to jump his bones like yesterday."

Haley closed her eyes and dropped her hands from her ears. "God, you are so gross."

"Oh let's not forget how you used to see Lucas in that very same way." Brooke reminded Haley of her high school crush on Lucas.

Haley rolled her brown eyes and plopped down onto the lavender sofa sitting in the center of the room. "That was so long ago! I was only sixteen at the time."

Brooke sat down on the couch beside Haley. "The truth is I just can't wait to marry him. I can't wait to see him waiting for me in his tux at the end of the aisle."

Haley's hands flew up to chest and covered her heart. "Excuse me if I begin to cry during the ceremony but my two best friends are finally getting married after all this time." She wrapped her arms around Brooke and pulled her close.

"Finally is right." Brooke said with a laugh. "I've been waiting for this day to come for a really long time which is how I came up with the fairy tale as our theme for the wedding."

"Speaking of your wedding day..." Haley smiled and jumped up from the couch. "You called me here to try on my dress so let's see it!"

Brooke smiled and clapped her hands together, "I totally forgot about that." She slid open a pair of doors and stepped inside. The darkness swallowed her whole but she stepped back into the light holding two dress bags. "Don't be shocked."

She hung up the dress bags on the back of the door that led to the dressing rooms and stepped aside.

Haley unzipped the first bag and a long white gown was revealed. "Are these your third and fourth wedding dresses?"

Brooke shook her head. "I want my bridesmaids to all wear white and black. The colors of the wedding are black and white after all."

Haley began to nod her head slowly. "So I'll be wearing white?"

"You think it's too much?" Brooke asked nervously. She wanted everything to turn out perfect for her fairytale wedding.

"I'm just surprised that you are willing to share the spotlight with your bridesmaids." Haley answered. "That's all!"

Brooke pretended to choke on a laugh. "Oh I will still be the one that everyone is looking at on my big day no doubt about it." She brushed her brown curls from her shoulders. "Now go get into your dress." She snapped her fingers at Haley.

Peyton knocked on the wall of the backroom and Millicent McFadden stood behind her.

"Are we too late?" Peyton walked in and gasped at the white dress hanging on the door. "Please don't tell me you are seriously going to wear three dresses on your wedding day? I thought two was going to be enough?"

Brooke sighed and rolled her eyes. "That is Haley's bridesmaid's dress."

"We are wearing white?" Millie asked.

Brooke took the other dress bag off of the back of the door. "No, you are wearing black!" She pushed the bag into Millie's arms. "Now both of you need to go get dressed."

Peyton took a seat on the couch and she pulled a magazine off of the white coffee table. "I can't wait to see this."

Brooke sat down on the edge of the coffee table and she pulled the magazine from Peyton's hands. "Are you sure you are okay with not being in the wedding party?"

Peyton laughed and scooted to the end of the couch so she could take Brooke's hands into her own. "I told you a million and one times already that I'm okay with it. I understand how mean people will be when they see the ex-wife of the groom walking down the aisle."

"I feel silly not letting my best friend be in my wedding because of what other people will think." Brooke said with a soft sigh. "You weren't able to be in my first wedding and I would love for you to be in my second wedding."

Peyton smiled and gave Brooke's hands a squeeze. "I would love to be in your wedding but I would never ask you to make me a dress for me this close to the actual wedding day. That is being a burden."

"Well good thing…" Brooke got up and ran out of the room to retrieve Peyton's bridesmaid's dress. "Good thing I already thought to make you a dress for the wedding."

Peyton's mouth dropped open. "Is Lucas okay with this?"

Brooke handed Peyton the crème colored dress bag. "Lucas wants me to be happy and he wants me to have my best friend as my maid of honor so he agreed to let you be in the wedding."

"Wait? Maid of honor?" Peyton gasped. "You want me to be your maid of honor?"

Brooke smiled widely at her best friend. "I've already had my best friend, Haley, as my maid of honor the first time so why not have my other best friend as my maid of honor this time?"

Peyton smiled and both she and Brooke began to jump up and down in excitement.

"I'm assuming you told her that she is going to be your maid of honor?" Haley came out of the dressing room wearing her white silky bridesmaid's gown.

Both Peyton and Brooke stopped bouncing up and down when they got their first looks of Haley in her dress. Both women gasped.

"Hales!" Brooke squealed. "You look gorgeous."

Haley began to twirl on her bare feet in the floor length gown. "I thought I was going to hate the bow but I actually love it." She grazed the white bow sewed onto the bust of her strapless gown. "You did good, Brooke."

Brooke playfully took a bow. "Why, thank! Millicent McFadden needs to hurry her butt up and get out here so we can see her in her dress." She called out to her other best friend and former assistant.

Millie came twirling out of the dressing room and smiled. "Do I look as good as Haley?"

"You wish!" Haley teased Millie.

"Oh hush you two. You both look amazing." Brooke wrapped her arms around her friends. "This is going to be one of the wedding photos." She looked at their reflection in the mirror. "The only thing missing is you P. Sawyer so get in there!"

"I'm going! I'm going." Peyton scurried off into the dressing room to try on her white gown.

Brooke paused from finishing the hem of the dresses. "Oh. My. God! You guys?"

"What's wrong, Brooke?" Haley asked, worried.

Brooke dropped her sewing needle and shook out her hands. "I'm getting married in three days!" She squealed.

"You scared us half to death, Brooke!" Peyton almost yelled but she couldn't help but smile at her friend's excitement. "Congratulations bride to be."

"Not only am I getting married to the man of my dreams but I get to have all of my best friends surrounding me on my big day." Brooke stood up from her position on the wooden floor of the back room and she held her arms out. "Group hug ladies!"

Haley, Millie, and Peyton all joined together and hugged their best friend. "We love you B. Davis!" The three women all said in unison.

"Hey pretty girl. How was your day?" Lucas kicked off his boots at the door to their bedroom before he climbed into their round bed. He planted a gentle kiss upon the lips of his fiancée.

Brooke sat in bed with the covers pulled up to her chin and she held in her hands Lucas' first book, The Unkindness of Ravens. She didn't pull her attention away from the words on the pages as she kissed him back. "I had a lot of fun today. The girls look amazing in their dresses."

"The guys all look great in their suits especially the Jude and Davis!" Lucas smiled and waved his hand in front of Brooke's face. "Earth to Brooke Baker?"

Brooke marked her place in the book before sitting in down in her lap. "I'm sorry I just got into reading your first book."

"You've never read it before?" He asked.

Brooke bit down on her bottom lip. "I only read the bit you showed me before I moved off to California after we graduated high school. I was afraid it would make my heart ache for you even more."

Lucas picked up the book from her lap. "Well how do you like it so far?"

"I love it." She brushed her lips against his. "I especially love the part about you making the shot that night at the River Court when Rachel asked you to prove that you and I were meant to be together."

"You can't change destiny." Lucas said with a nod as he looked back on the day. "It looks like she was right. You really can't change destiny." He took Brooke's hand and led kisses up her ring finger until he reached her engagement ring.

"Too bad it's taken us this long to figure that all out!" Brooke said with a smile. "But better late than never."

It was a warm night in Tree Hill, North Carolina. Brooke Davis had made the mistake of setting up the boy draft. Every girl on the cheerleading squad got one pick at a guy and no other girl could touch him for the remainder of the school year.

Rachel Gattina challenged Brooke and won Lucas in the boy draft while Brooke ended up with the infamous Chris Keller. Each girl had to set up a date after the draft had been set in motion.

Since Rachel won Lucas, they had to go on a date with one another. Rachel set up a date at Lucas' favorite spot in the town of Tree Hill, the River Court.

"Brooke is the one for me." Lucas exclaimed to Rachel as they hung out on the bleachers at the outdoor basketball court.

Rachel rolled her brown eyes. "Why?"

Lucas gave his shoulders a shrug. "I just feel it."

Rachel was sick of hearing Lucas gush about Brooke so she decided to pull his attention away from Brooke and onto her. The friends played horse for almost an hour until Lucas won.

"Can we call it a night?" Lucas tossed Rachel the basketball.

"Or we can play a new game." Rachel said seductively as she caught the basketball in her hands. "How about strip basketball?"

Although he found her attractive, Lucas did not see Rachel in the light so he passed on the opportunity to see her naked.

"I'm gonna pass!" Lucas answered.

Rachel felt annoyed, "Because of Brooke? Who is on a date with Chris Keller?"

Lucas remained silent as he tried not to give into Rachel's pettiness.

"Take your shirt off, Luke." Rachel took a step toward the jock.

Lucas frowned. "Rachel…"

Rachel rolled her eyes and cut him off, "I'm not gonna touch you! I'm trying to make a point."

Lucas hesitated but obeyed Rachel's wishes. He peeled his shirt off of his back.

"You say that Brooke is the one for you." Rachel walked behind Lucas and took the shirt from his hands. "You say she is your soul mate." She draped her arms around him. "If that is the case then you will be able to make this shot blindfolded." Rachel tied the shirt around Lucas' eyes. "Call upon Destiny and make the shot."

Lucas laughed. "This is crazy, Rachel."

"It's your destiny!" Rachel called out to him. "You can't miss. Can you see me?"

Lucas shook his head, "No!"

Rachel began to dance around the court to make sure Lucas could not see her through the shirt tied around his face. "Follow my voice." She began to back away toward the court's goal. "Brooke is the one. Make the shot. You can't change destiny."

Lucas listened closely to Rachel's voice but he had no doubt that he would miss the shot, but he was still going to try because he knew Brooke was the one for him. He dribbled the ball a few times before shooting the ball off into the air. The sound of the ball going through the hoop took him by surprise. "What happened?"

"It went in." Rachel said from the side of the court.

He ripped the shirt from his eyes to see if she had told him the truth. _"Brooke is the one."_ He thought to himself. _"I knew it!"_


	9. Chapter 9

"There are moments in our lives when our dreams come true. When your dreams come true who do you want standing next to you?" Peyton asked Lucas, hoping the answer would be her.

Without hesitation Lucas replied, "Brooke."

Peyton was not surprised by Lucas' answer but she was disappointed. She'd hope that all the time they'd been spending together would change or budge his love for Brooke but it never did.

And it had been Brooke who had been at his side when all of his dreams came true. When the Ravens finally won the championship, Brooke had been the first person wanted to see. When Lucas' book was published Brooke was the one he wanted to celebrate with.

She had also been the one standing by his side when his dreams crumbled underneath him.

[**Present Day**]

"Rise and shine beautiful bride!" Haley ripped open the thick curtains covering Brooke's bedroom windows. "It's time for you to get all dolled up for your big day."

Brooke groaned and covered her closed eyes with her pillow. "What time it is?"

"It's going on eleven." Haley read the time from the alarm clock sitting propped up on Brooke's nightstand.

Brooke popped up in her bed, "What? Who let me sleep in so late?" She threw the covers off of herself and she climbed out of bed. "There is so much to do before the actual ceremony starts at four."

Haley grabbed Brooke's hands to stop her from pacing back and forth in her bedroom. "Relax! Millie is fixing all of the final touches on the venue while Karen and I made breakfast for everyone downstairs. And Peyton picked up all of the dresses from the boutique."

"Are the boys with Lucas?" Brooke asked. "And does everyone have their tuxedos with them?"

Haley nodded once and smiled. "Just breathe. Everything is working out fine!"

Brooke took a step back and let out a heavy sigh. "Okay, I'm relaxed at least for now. Now where is my mother in law to be?"

Karen was waiting for Brooke downstairs in the kitchen. Karen, Lily, and Andy all got in last night but Brooke was forced to go to sleep by Haley so she wouldn't be too tired on her wedding day.

"Karen?" Brooke squealed at the sight of the older woman. "I've missed you so much!"

The two women embraced in a hug.

"You look amazing already." Karen smiled and tucked a piece of Brooke's chocolate brown hair behind her ear.

"Thank you for giving me and Lucas your blessing." Brooke took Karen's hands into her own. "I don't think I could have gone through with the actual wedding without your blessing."

Karen shrugged her shoulders. "I've been waiting for the two of you to get married for a really long time now. Sorry Peyton." She said over her shoulder.

Peyton Sawyer, Lucas' ex-wife, sat at Brooke's breakfast bar nibbling on a biscuit. "I've gotten used to people saying how much they've wanted Lucas to marry Brooke instead of me."

Brooke bit down on her lip to hold back a laugh. "Well thank you for handling it like a lady." She walked over to Peyton and wrapped her arms around her. "And thank you for being in my wedding as my maid of honor."

"Was she this pleasant and nice the first time around?" Peyton asked Haley.

Haley laughed but nodded. "She even did a little dance for me."

Brooke gasped and her hands covered her heart. "Julian had Jamie send over a CD of the music he saw me dancing to that made him fall in love with me." She pouted.

"No please don't cry!" Peyton squeezed Brooke. "It's okay to miss him today but don't let that get in the way of you enjoying your big day with Lucas."

She dabbed tears from her eyes with a napkin she found sitting nearby. "These are happy tears! It just reminded me of how lucky I am and I have every woman that I love surrounding me today and I'm marrying my soul mate."

Brooke looked around her kitchen at the women in her life.

Her mother sat in her bath robe with her glasses sliding down the tip of her nose as she read Vogue magazine while Millie sat across from Victoria with her phone glued to her ear and her mouth constantly moving.

Peyton sat with a plate of food in front of her but only nibbled on her breakfast while she and Haley giggled over their excitement for the day.

Their daughters were laid out on the couch together watching television while Karen stood brushing her daughter's hair out.

"I'm pretty damn lucky to have so much love surrounding me today." Brooke grabbed a wine glass filled with orange juice and held it up in the air. "This is to all of the beautiful and strong women in this room."

"Cheers!" Everyone yelled in unison.

[**On the groom's side**]

"Breathe brother." Nathan shook Lucas by his shoulders. "You weren't this nervous on your first wedding day."

Lucas rolled his eyes and plopped himself down. "I had other things to worry about that day like Brooke not causing a scene over Julian bringing a date oh and the health of my bride who was eight months pregnant."

Nathan laughed and took a seat next to Lucas on the couch. "You've had a very strange sense of luck happening when it comes to you and weddings. I wonder what crazy thing will happen this time around."

"That is what I'm worried about." Lucas sighed heavily. "I'm afraid something is going to happen to Brooke or she won't show up at all."

Nathan patted Lucas' shoulder. "That woman has been waiting for several years to marry you so there is no way she isn't going to show up."

"Then something bad is going to happen to her. I just have a gut feeling that something is going to go wrong." Lucas shook his head. "Tree Hill weddings have the worst luck in the history of the world."

Nathan laughed and pulled out his phone to call his wife. "Hales?"

"Yeah babe?" Haley answered on the other end of the phone.

Nathan pressed the speaker button on his phone so Lucas could hear the conversation going on between him and his wife. "What is Brooke doing at this very instant?"

"You want detail from detail?" Haley teased. "Brooke is seating down sipping on water and munching on toast while getting her hair done."

"Is she sick or upset?" Nathan asked to help relief his brother's tension and worry about his bride.

"Nope. She has been dancing around and smiling all day." Haley answered. "Lucas, relax and enjoy your day. We love you boys." She hung up.

Nathan slid his phone back into the pocket of his pajama pants. "Happy? Because your bride seems to pretty happy."

Lucas smiled widely and clapped his hands together. "I'm happy now!"

"Go then let's go get dressed." Nathan pulled himself off of the couch and offered his hand to Lucas who took his help to get off of the couch.

[**Back to the Bride**]

"Oh Hales!" Karen stood at the bottom of the stairs next to the wedding photographer, Quinn Evans, who is Haley's sister. "You look stunning."

Haley's auburn colored locks were pulled back into a slick bun that was finished off with classic pearl earrings and two pearl bracelets resting on her wrist.

"Thank you." Haley gracefully made her way down the stairs in her floor length gown. "So do you Karen!"

Brooke made a simple black cocktail dress for both mothers, her own and Lucas' mother.

Peyton playfully cleared her throat at the top of the stairs. "The bride is ready for her big entrance."

"Peyton!" Everyone heard Brooke squeal from her bedroom.

"Out of all days that you don't want to be a diva you pick today?" Peyton teased her. "C'mon out!"

Brooke exited her bedroom and gasped filled the empty air as she made her way down the spiral staircase.

Her first wedding gown of the evening was a strapless ball gown. The skirt was all tulle that was adorned with single pearls to match her bridesmaids' dresses. Her hair was curled but pulled up into a curly ponytail.

A pearl necklace swept across her breasts to go along with the matching pearl earrings she was wearing.

"Do I look okay or do the gasps mean I look terrible and I should go change right away?" Brooke stopped in front of Karen and Haley.

Both women looked at one another and began to tear up.

"You look beautiful Brooke." Haley cried as she handed over Brooke's white roses with one single rose sitting properly in the middle of the bunch.

Brooke began to fan her eyes. "No crying yet! You are going to make me cry and then I'll ruin my make-up." She pointed her index finger at her best friend. "Hales, you did this to me last time."

Haley laughed through her tears. "I'm sorry but my best friend makes the most beautiful bride I've ever seen."

"Hales! Come here." She pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you."

Haley dabbed her wet face with a tissue so she wouldn't mess up her make-up. "I love you too!"

"The limo is here!" Sawyer shouted.

Sawyer and Lily were both due to be additional bridesmaids in the wedding while Lydia was assigned the role of flower girl.

Sawyer and Lily wore similar gowns to their mothers' white gowns but their gowns had a slit that stopped near their knees. Both young women wore their hair curled and down their backs.

"You look beautiful, Brooke." Sawyer smiled.

Brooke stepped off of the steps and toward her soon to be step daughter, "So do you gorgeous."

Flashes went off as Brooke fixed a few of Sawyer's loose curls.

"You ready for this?" Sawyer asked. "The next stop is the castle where you will be announced as Mrs. Brooke Penelope Scott."

Brooke smiled and covered her heart with her hands. "I'm so ready! Ladies, let's do this." She turned on her three inch black heels to face the rest of her bridal party.

"The rest of you go ahead in the limo." Victoria ordered. "I'd like to have a few moments with my daughter before she gets married again."

Everyone obeyed Victoria's order and they all filed out of the house and outside to the limo.

"My beautiful daughter." Victoria took Brooke's flowers out of her hands and sat it down so she could hold her hands. "You once told me that Lucas Scott was the one boy you'd give it all up for."

Brooke began to tear up at the memory. "That was the day I thought he walked out of my life for good."

"Well he didn't and I see how happy he makes you." Victoria gave Brooke's hand a squeeze. "You have one of the biggest hearts known to man and you deserve to be happy. I know this time I don't get the chance to give you away but if I were then this is would be me saying you have my blessing and happiness to marry this man."

Brooke gave her mother a hug. "Thank you mama."

"Enough of that. We don't need you crying again!" Victoria smiled and linked arms with her daughter. "Now let's go to the chapel and get you married."

Brooke and Victoria walked out of the home and joined the rest of Brooke's wedding party in the long white limo waiting for them at the end of Brooke's driveway.

"You ready for this?" Nathan fixed his brother's tie as they waited in the groom's suite in the castle they'd rented out for Brooke's and Lucas' wedding.

It was the same castle that Brooke and Julian had married in but it was Brooke's dream venue and she wanted her dream venue for her dream wedding.

"I'm more ready than you know." Lucas smiled and shook out his hands at his side. "I can't wait to see her walking toward me."

Nathan smiled and stood beside his brother as Quinn continued to snap photos of them.

"You think you'll cry?" Nathan asked with a laugh.

Lucas button up his suit jacket. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to cry when I see Brooke in her wedding dress for the first time."

"Everyone is waiting and ready." James came back into the suit to inform his father and uncle. "Brooke arrived about ten minutes ago and I got a sneak peek at her. She looks amazing Uncle Lucas!"

"Don't spoil the surprise for me." Lucas said anxiously.

Jamie threw his hands up in the air, surrendering. "Well let's go and do this. Dad, you are that way." He pointed down the hallway and turned to lead his uncle Lucas out to the chapel to wait for the rest of them.

Each row of chairs was filled with guests from both Brooke's friends to Lucas' friends and family. Lucas' old publicist, Lindsay Strauss, sat in the crowd with her husband and newborn son.

Alex Dupre also sat in the crowd of wedding goers with Chase Adams. Despite Alex having a huge crush on Brooke's first husband, Julian, she and Brooke developed a real friendship after Alex married Brooke's good friend, Chase.

Lucas ran down the few steps of the chapel and greeted his mother with a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you." Karen whispered to her son. "This is your chance at true happiness so enjoy it."

Lucas smiled, "I love you too mom."

Christina Aguilera's _Save Me from Myself_ was the song they'd chosen to have Brooke walk down the aisle to while everyone else walked down the aisle to the traditional song.

The wedding march began to play so Lucas took his place up at the chapel as he waited for his bride to come out.

Nathan and Haley were the first of the wedding party to make their way down the aisle. The happily married couple was Brooke's role model couple. Brooke looked up to them for a love that everyone knew was going to live on forever. It was a love that people wrote stories about.

Peyton walked down the aisle with James while Sawyer walked down the aisle by herself as did Lily. Lydia walked down the white aisle with Jude and Davis at her side. She threw out white rose petals to guide her Aunt Brooke down the aisle.

Each guest rose to their feet as _Save Me from Myself_ began to play.

Brooke rounded the corner on the arm of her father. She couldn't help but smile when she saw Lucas standing at the end of the chapel with a smile on his face.

"Aunt Brooke sure does look beautiful, doesn't see?" James whispered to his uncle.

"She looks beautiful everyday but today she looks like an angel." Lucas replied.

Brooke took a deep breath to keep herself from crying.

"Mouth the words to the song to distract yourself from crying." Her father whispered into her ear.

Brooke smiled and nodded once. "When I'm about to fall somehow you're always waiting, your open arms to catch me."

She slowly made her way up the long white aisle with her father.

"My love is tainted by your touch." Brooke continued to mouth the words. "Don't ask me why I'm crying."

Lucas began to cry as he realized Brooke was singing along with the song. Each lyric had meaning to their relationship.

"You've been my strength so strong." Brooke and her father finally made it to the end of the aisle as the song slowly came to an end.

"Who gives this beautiful bride away to her groom?" The officiate asked after the song came to an end.

"I do." Ted Davis replied as he placed Brooke's hand into Lucas' hand. Ted gracefully walked away from the chapel and took a seat next to his wife, Victoria Davis, in the front row.

Brooke reached up and wiped away a few of Lucas' tears. "Hey handsome." She whispered to him.

"Hey beautiful!" He smiled through his tears. "I feel like I'm in heaven today standing across from you." Lucas began his vows. "According to everyone in our lives it has been a long time coming. I told you that I was going to marry you someday and that day is here. I can't wait to be able to call you my wife and wake up to your beautiful and bright smile every morning for the rest of my life."

Brooke squeezed Lucas hands and sent a wink in his direction.

"I love you so much and I look forward to telling you just how much I love every single day of my life." Lucas continued after collecting Brooke's wedding band from his nephew. "I know Julian is looking down on us today and I hope to make him proud by caring for both you and your sons with all of my heart and being if you'll have me."

Brooke appreciated Lucas including Julian in their vows.

"My mom and I were talking earlier and she reminded me of a moment in our lives when I told her that I would have given up anything just to be with you." Brooke took Lucas' wedding band from Sawyer. "But at the time your heart was preoccupied and that brought us the beautiful gift named Sawyer Brooke. Then my heart became preoccupied with Julian and that brought me happiness in the form of Jude and Davis."

Tears began to blur her vision.

"Now we are both standing her vowing to love each other for the rest of our lives but I've never stopped loving you Lucas Scott and I vow to never stop loving you. I also vow to love our new family and cherish the love that we have surrounding and supporting us in our decision to get married." She slid the silver band onto his finger.

"Lucas Eugene Scott will you take this woman to be your wife? To have and to hold? In sickness and in health? In richer and poor?" The officiate asked.

Lucas nodded once and said proudly, "I do!"

"Brooke Penelope Baker, will you take this man to be your husband? To have and to hold? In sickness and in health? In richer and poor?" The officiate asked Brooke next.

Brooke smiled widely. "I do!"

"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife…" The officiate stated but before he could finished Lucas took Brooke into his arms and he kissed her.

Brooke wrapped her arms around Lucas' neck and prolonged their embrace. "I love you!"

"I love you too, Brooke Penelope Scott!" Lucas smiled brightly.

"Presenting to the world for the first time." Mouth McFadden said over the DJ system. "Mister and Misses Scott!"

Lucas and Brooke walked into their reception party. Lucas had removed his suit jacket and his tie while Brooke changed out of her ball gown into a body hugging strapless, white lace wedding gown.

Tamia's Beautiful Surprise began to play for the newlyweds to begin their first dance.

"So happy that I could cry! You heard that?" Brooke laughed and allowed for Lucas to twirl her around. "That is how I feel at this very moment as I stand here with you."

"You and me both." Lucas smiled and kissed Brooke passionately.

Half way through the song Lucas pulled their children onto the dance floor. He danced with his daughter while Brooke danced with both of her sons.

"Are you happy for mama?" Brooke asked Jude and Davis.

"We're happy for you and daddy!" Jude and Davis answered in unison. "Congrats."

Brooke pulled them into a group hug at the end of the song. The entire room began to applaud the new family's touching moment on the dance floor.

"Mama Time!" Brooke squealed as Carrie Underwood's Mama's Song began to play.

Karen and Victoria walked onto the dance floor. Victoria began to dance with Brooke while Karen danced with her son.

"You found the answer to my prayers." Karen said to the lyrics. "She makes you the happiest I've ever seen you and she loves you more than anyone except your mama of course."

Lucas laughed and slow danced with his mother. "Brooke has always made me a happy man."

"Why didn't you marry her the first time?" Karen asked.

Lucas shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't think she felt as strongly for me as I did for her but now I know that I was wrong."

"I'm proud of you." Victoria said to her daughter.

Brooke smiled up at her mother. "For what?"

"For finding two good men who love you and treat you like a real man should." Victoria nodded toward Lucas. "I approve!"

Lucas cut in and began to dance with Victoria while Karen and Brooke danced.

"I have no doubt that you will take care of Brooke and the boys." Victoria said to him.

Lucas smiled proudly at his new mother in law. "I'm glad you have faith in me to love them and care for them."

"Don't let me down!" Victoria said with a single nod of her head.

Once the song ended Lucas and Brooke began to make their way around the large room to talk to all of their friends.

"Samantha Walker!" Brooke placed her hands on her hips and smiled at the girl she almost adopted when she was a homeless teen.

"Hey Mama Brooke." Sam greeted Brooke with a kiss on the cheek. "Beautiful wedding. I'm next though." She held up her hand and flashed a sparkling diamond engagement ring.

Brooke gasped, "Jack!" She hit the young man in the arm. "I love you for this."

"Skillz? What are you doing?" Lucas walked over to his old high school friend.

Skillz peeled his eyes off of Deb Scott, Nathan's mother. "Just checking out what I've been missing."

"You're gross man!" Lucas shook his head and walked over to his bride. "Time for toasts." He whispered into her ear.

Brooke and Lucas took their seat at their table as Peyton took the microphone from Mouth McFadden who was the DJ at the reception.

"I'm honored to be Brooke Scott's maid of honor." Peyton smiled and waved Haley onto the dance floor to join her toast to their best friend.

Haley hesitated but joined Peyton at the front of the room.

"We've both known Brooke for most of our lives and anyone who knows her knows that she has an amazing heart." Peyton said into the microphone. "Brooke has been my rock and I have no doubt that she will be an amazing step mother to my beautiful daughter, Sawyer, and I know you guys have finally made the right decision to ignore all of the distractions and just be together."

"We've had some amazing moments with Brooke." Haley took the microphone from Peyton. "And I for one have discovered Brooke's hidden talent to make anything fun and I know with Lucas she has so much more fun. Her entire face lights up when she hears his name being spoken and I stand here today and I say…." Haley sniffled back tears. "It is about time!"

Everyone in the room laughed.

Haley continued. "I admit I didn't understand the two of you in the beginning but now I see that you two are meant for one another. You have an understanding of one another that no one else has and your love only grows in the face of hardship and pain. That kind of love never dies!"

"Lucas Scott and I have not always gotten along." Nathan began his speech. "There was always something pushing us away but Brooke was the one thing pushing us to get along and be brothers. She has been an amazing friend to me and my wife. She has always been an amazing aunt to my children and I know she will make an amazing wife to my big brother. Luke, you got a good one man."

Brooke hugged all of her best friends. "You guys are so cute!"

Lucas and Brooke cut their wedding cake together and lovingly fed one another pieces of the cake.

"Let's liven this party up with one last dance before we say goodbye to the newlyweds and wish them a swell honeymoon. I want the couple and their bridal party on the dance floor!" Mouth said before playing the song, _Love on Top _by the singer Beyonce.

Brooke entered the dance floor with Haley and Peyton on either side of her.

"Come here baby!" Brooke motioned Lucas over. "You think we should show Peyton her surprise now?" She whispered into Lucas' ear. "Someone has to have slutty wedding sex."

Lucas laughed and waved someone out onto the dance floor.

Jake Jagielski walked out of the crowd and onto the dance floor with his daughter Jenny. Peyton stood frozen and wide eyed in the center of the floor.

"Hey Peyton!" Jake offered his hand to her. "Wanna dance?"

Peyton took his hand and the couple danced as if no time had passed since they last spoke.

"Did today turn out like you wanted it to?" Lucas asked his wife.

Brooke smiled and brushed her lips against his. "I got everything I ever wanted today."

The doors to the castle opened and bubbles began to be blown in Lucas and Brooke's direction. She squealed and tightened her hold on Lucas' hand. He led her through the crowd and to their waiting limo.

The words Happily Ever After were written in white on the back window of their limo.

_"That describes them perfectly."_ Haley thought as she watched the limo drive off into the night.


	10. Chapter 10

"Brooke Penelope Scott!" Lucas called out to his wife of almost a year as he stood in the doorway.

Brooke whirled around, revealing her round baby bump. "Yes husband?" She placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side.

Shortly after their honeymoon, Lucas and Brooke were gifted with the surprise of a pregnancy. It was the perfect way to top off their fairy tale.

"It still feels good to hear you call me your husband." Lucas walked into their unborn child's pink nursery and planted a kiss upon Brooke's lips.

"Can I start calling you baby daddy now that I'm nine months pregnant and she is almost here?" Brooke brushed her lips against his. "It has a certain ring to it don't you think?"

Lucas laughed but shook his head. "You are not allowed to starting calling me your baby daddy ever. I prefer to be called your husband and father of your children."

Brooke pretended to pout her full lips but her Jude and Davis darted into the baby girl's nursery.

"Mama, we finished our rooms." Jude said breathlessly from his run down the stairs and across the house.

Davis nodded in agreement to his brother. "Wanna see them?"

"Cover her eyes dad!" Jude pointed at Lucas before he turned and led his family upstairs to his new bedroom.

Brooke and Lucas both agreed on buying a new home for a fresh start to their marriage and new family. Although the boys had once shared a room due to their close bond, they now wanted to show how old they were getting by separating their spaces.

Lucas led a pregnant Brooke up the carpeted staircase while he kept her eyes covered with his free hand.

"Why doesn't Luke have to cover his eyes?" Brooke asked as she felt around.

"Because he and Aunt Haley helped us with our rooms so they've already seen them," Davis answered his mother.

Brooke frowned in confusion. "Haley helped out too? I didn't even know she was here."

"Yup, I did." Haley answered after she stepped out of Davis' bedroom. "And it is because of my help that they look amazing."

"Hey!" The twins squealed in unison.

Haley laughed and casually waved her hand in the air. "I was only kidding boys. Everyone knows that you inherited your mother's creative gene." She stepped aside to allow Lucas to guide Brooke into the first bedroom.

"Ta-dah," Davis said as his step-father slowly began to uncover his mother's eyes.

The room had an outer space theme to it. Stars and Planets were painted onto the black walls of the bedroom while the bed was shaped as a rocket.

"This looks amazing, Davis!" Brooke smiled as she took in the sight of the bedroom.

Davis smiled proudly. "Thank you mama."

"Okay, it's my turn now." Jude spoke up from his position behind his parents. "Come and see how I did my room!" He began to pull his Aunt Haley out of Davis' room and toward his own.

Brooke and Lucas followed behind Haley and Jude toward Jude's new bedroom.

"Welcome to my new room." Jude flipped on the light and stepped aside to allow his family inside the large bedroom.

The theme of the bedroom was a racetrack. Jude's red bed was in the shape of a race car while his closet resembled a pit stop.

"This is amazing!" Brooke squealed at the sight of the bedroom. She rubbed her round stomach and sat down on the race car shaped bed. "You think you could grow up in here?" She pulled Jude into her lap.

Jude nodded his head. "I can grow up wherever as long as we're all together as a family."

Brooke began to fan her eyes. "I'm way too hormonal for your kind words right now." She laughed and wiped away her tears with the back of her sleeve.

"When is the baby coming?" Davis sat down on the bed beside his mother and brother. "She completes the puzzle to our new family."

Brooke sighed lightly and cradled her stomach in her hands. "Actually I think she is coming right now!"

"What?" Lucas shouted in excitement.

Brooke nodded once. "I think my water just broke and I'm having contractions."

"Ew! On my bed mom?" Jude jumped up from his mother's lap and ran out of the room to retrieve a towel.

Lucas helped his wife off of the bed and Jude rushed over began to dab the water mark his mother left on his new bed set.

"Don't make fun of your mother." Lucas scolded Jude.

"It is kinda gross though." Brooke looked over her shoulder at her son. "I'm sorry honey but momma can't help where and when her water breaks. Your little sister is just so anxious to come out."

Jude waved his hand. "It's alright! Just go have my little sister already so we can finally meet her." He called out to his mother.

Lucas scrambled around the house getting the nursery finalized while Brooke showered and changed.

Haley watched after Jude and Davis while still keeping Brooke calm during the labor.

"We're about to have our baby." Brooke smiled into the camera her husband had pointed at her. She turned to the side to showcase her baby bump. "I'm going to miss being pregnant but I can't wait to meet you Aria." She waved at the camera.

Lucas smiled widely behind the camera. "Let's do this! Let's go have our first baby girl."

"First? First and last." Brooke corrected him. "Our family is big enough."

"Haley, are you sure you don't mind watching the boys for us?" Brooke asked as she wrapped her arms around her best friend.

Haley shook her head and smiled. "Go and have my little niece and we will be there to check on you in the morning." Her eyes began to water with tears.

"Please don't cry Hales!" Brooke pleaded as tears began to stream down her pink cheeks. "I'm still pregnant so I'm still hormonal and emotional about every little thing going on around me."

Haley smiled and wiped away Brooke's tears with her thumb. "I don't know why I'm crying but we need to stop crying so you can go and have your baby already."

"It's like you're pregnant. One pregnancy after another." Lucas said sarcastically but his mouth dropped open as Haley shot him a look. "You're pregnant?" He mouthed to her.

Haley nodded once but turned her attention back to soothing Brooke. "Let's not have the baby on the carpet of your nice new home." She began to push Brooke in the direction of the front door.

"See you in the morning momma." Jude kissed his mother's stomach and Davis followed suit.

"Can you believe we're having a baby together?" Brooke asked Lucas as she climbed up into the hospital bed after getting changed into her pink and white polka dotted hospital gown.

Lucas looked up from the camera's viewfinder and shook his head. "Can you believe we're married and having a baby? Did you ever think this would happen?"

Brooke honestly shook her head but smiled. "I could only hope that you would open your eyes and see that I was the one for you but I wasn't gonna throw my best friend under the bus to get you to see that we're soul mates. People who are meant to be be together always find their way in the end."

Lucas chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "I just had a flashback to our little moment in the rain."

Brooke laughed and took a deep breath to distract herself from the contraction happening in her lower stomach. "That day was pretty fun and would have made a pretty epic love story for someone to write about."

"It does make an epic love story. It makes our epic love story." Lucas took Brooke's hand into his own and kissed it. "I fell in love with you all over again that night in the rain."

"I fell in love with you that night too." Brooke smiled weakly as tears began to sting the back of her eyes. "Remember our break up?"

"Which one?" Lucas smirked. "Because I remember them all too well."

Brooke laughed and gave his hand a squeeze as another contraction began to tighten up her round stomach. "The one after Haley and Nathan got married."

"That break-up never made sense to me." Lucas admitted as he wiped sweat from his wife's forehead.

"It was the hardest thing for me to do." Brooke sighed heavily and pressed her forehead against his. "But I wanted you to sort out your feelings for Peyton and then come back to me like you had in the past."

Lucas brushed his lips against hers. "And I did come back eventually."

"Well the fact that you came back at all is all that matters to me." Brooke began to laugh but her laughter was stopped as her contractions grew harsher. "I think it's time to push." She said through gritted teeth.

Lucas jumped up from his seat at her bedside and raced out into the hallway to retrieve a nurse to check Brooke's labor process.

After being checked it was determined that Brooke was ready to begin pushing so they sent her to the labor room where she began the long process of pushing out her first born daughter.

"I'm sorry I can't be more of a help to you right now." Lucas kissed Brooke's forehead.

Brooke shook her head between pushes. "You'll be able to change every dirty diaper while I'm in recovery from all of this and that thought alone is help enough."

"I love you for still having a sense of humor while you're in labor." Lucas grabbed her hand in time for her to begin pushing again.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. The countdown continued as Brooke pushed.

"It's a girl!" The doctor shouted as they placed Aria on a towel that rested across Brooke's breasts.

The sound of their daughter crying sent relief through the veins of both Lucas and Brooke.

"She looks just like you!" Lucas gushed at the sight of the newborn after he cut her cord and the nurses cleaned her off. "That is such a relief."

Brooke laughed. "You would make a pretty girl honey." She cradled her newborn daughter in her arms. "We made this miracle and she is a beautiful miracle despite her looks." She looked up at her husband.

Lucas leaned down and kissed Brooke's forehead. "This just makes our relationship so much more special and destined to happen."

"We've always been destined to be together, huh?" She smiled and looked down at their daughter. "Our history all of a sudden makes so much sense today."

"It was all leading up to this very moment." Lucas finished her thought. "Aria Haley Scott!"

For the rest of the night Brooke and Aria's hospital room was visited by family and friends, and it all continued the very next morning.

"Where is she?" Haley walked into the hospital room with Jude and Davis following closely behind her. "They have been staring at her picture all night."

Brooke smiled and nodded toward the glass bassinet that carried Aria. "She just fell asleep after I fed and burped her."

Jude and Davis pressed their noses against the glass as they observed their sleeping little sister.

Haley smiled and placed flowers in Brooke's arms. "Well congrats momma!"

"Congrats god momma." Brooke hugged Haley. "I hope you don't mind that we named her after you."

"What?" Haley squealed but covered her mouth, afraid that she'd woken up the baby but took a deep breath as the Aria remained asleep.

Lucas smiled widely. "Aria Haley Scott will be her name until she gets married in forty or more years."

"Why would you do that?" Haley grabbed Lucas by the wrists and gave him and Brooke a group hug. "Do you guys love me that much?"

Brooke laughed. "We do love you that much and I love how amazing of an aunt you are to Jude and Davis so we figured that we'd say thank you in the most amazing way possible."

Haley began to wipe her tears away with her bare fingers. "Can you believe that one day so many years ago you thought that I was too low on the social ladder to be your friend? And I thought you were a crazy slag."

"Okay! Time to go boys." Lucas led Jude and Davis out of the hospital room.

"I was dumb back then!" Brooke shook her head. "But I'm glad I was wrong about you because you became my best friend and I've enjoyed being by your side watching you and your family grow."

Haley smiled. "Speaking of growing families…"

"You're pregnant!" Brooke shouted at her. "I knew you were emotional and crazy for a reason."

"Crazy?" Haley pouted. "Have I been acting crazy?"

Peyton knocked on the door of the hospital room to catch Haley and Brooke's attention. "Congrats new mom and new mom to be," She walked into the room and greeted both of her friends with hugs.

Brooke grabbed Peyton by the wrist. "Did I just spot a sparkly diamond? Are you and Jake engaged?" She noted about the large ring taking a place on Peyton's ring finger. "When did this happen?"

Peyton shrugged her shoulders as she admired her new engagement ring. "Jake and I have been really hitting it off since you and Lucas' wedding. And my pregnancy only sped up the process of us getting married and moving in together."

Both Brooke and Haley dropped their mouths open. "You're pregnant and engaged?" They asked in unison.

Peyton smiled widely and nodded once. "Four months and two days pregnant to be more specific."

Brooke began to squeal. "Both of my best friends are pregnant at the same time! You bitches couldn't have made this happen several months ago when I was still at least in the middle of my pregnancy?"

Everyone laughed but the laughs soon quieted as Aria began to wake up from her deep slumber.

"I got her!" Haley carefully picked up her newborn god-daughter. "I can't wait to experience this all over again with my third child."

Peyton and Brooke watched Haley cradle Aria in her arms.

"Did you think this is how our lives would have turned out to be like when we were in high school?" Peyton asked.

"I never thought that I'd be married to my best friend's ex-husband and I never thought that we would have such a big family together." Brooke answered. "What about you, Hales? Is this how you saw our lives turning out?"

Haley shook her head. "I always saw Lucas marrying Brooke and Peyton marrying Jake, but I never saw us all being in Tree Hill and having babies at the same time. I thought Brooke's career would take her across the world and I thought you, Peyton, would leave Tree Hill the first chance you got only to never come back."

"Tree Hill is my home and no matter how hard I try to stay away I just can't." Peyton shrugged.

"This place holds so many memories." Brooke added. "Both good and bad memories but I'd never trade them for any other place in the world. I feel at my safest when I'm home and I want my children to experience everything Tree Hill has to offer them."

Jamie walked into the hospital room. "What is that saying you always told me mom? There is only one Tree Hill…"

"And it is your home." Haley finished her son's sentence. "No matter where you go or who you become this place will always be your home."

[**Five Years Later**]

"Aria Haley Scott," Brooke called out to her daughter. "You are going to be late for your first day in kindergarten."

Aria came darting down the stairs with her new sparkly backpack on her shoulders. "Do I look pretty mama?" She posed at the bottom of the staircase.

Brooke smiled and picked up her daughter. "You look beautiful and stunning and graceful!"

Aria smiled proudly up at her mother. "Thanks momma. I learned from the best."

"No problem sweetie." Brooke sat her five-year old daughter back down onto her feet.

The bus sounded its horn off outside their home.

"You have fun on your first day of school and remember where your teacher is at all times." Brooke squeezed her daughter tight. "Go give daddy a kiss goodbye before you leave."

Aria blew her father a kiss as she ran out of the front door and onto the large yellow school bus awaiting her arrival at the end of the driveway.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Brooke turned to her husband.

Lucas nodded slowly and became to charge at his wife. "We're alone for eight more hours."

"Exactly!" Brooke squealed and ran up the staircase of their home.


	11. Chapter 11

"Happy birthday to Jude and Davis! Happy to you." The entire crowd sang the happy birthday song at the twin's fifteenth backyard birthday party.

Brooke had her arms wrapped around both Jude and Davis as they stood in front of the family party where their separate cakes had been set up on a table. One cake was space theme while the other was south western themed just like their bedrooms had been when they were children.

"How does it feel to be fifteen?" Brooke asked Jude as she brushed his long brown hair out of his chocolate brown eyes.

Jude shrugged his shoulders. "It feels great but it would feel even better if I knew I would get the chance to learn how to drive this year so I can get a car for my birthday next year!"

Brooke laughed and nudged her son in his side with her elbow. "Well then it is going to be a great year for you and Davis then. I hope you have fun because momma isn't going to be the one teaching you how to drive."

Jude pumped his fist in the air due to his excitement over the good news from his mother and raced off to share the exciting news with his twin brother who had gone off to socialize with their family members.

"Aunt Brooke, guess what?" A soft spoken voice came from behind Brooke and along with the voice came a gentle tug of the hem of her skirt.

Brooke twirled around on the heel of her ballet flats to see who the voice belonged to. "Well hello Miss Lucy Bob!" She kneeled down to become face to face with Haley and Nathan's youngest daughter. "What is it?"

Lucy smiled brightly at her god mother and slowly brought her hand around from her back. "I found a pretty flower in my mama's garden that made me think of you." She opened Brooke's hand and placed a daisy into her palm. "Do you like it?"

Brooke squealed at the sight of the perfectly plucked flower. "I love it because it came from you and because you remembered that it is my favorite flower." She scooped the four year old up into her arms and began to twirl her around. "And I love you, Lucy. You are the best god daughter anyone could have."

"Are you trying to steal my daughter again?" Haley walked over to Brooke and cross her arms over her chest. "Because this time I might let you can have her!"

"Mom!" Lucy squealed from her place in Brooke's arms.

"What?" Haley smirked at her daughter who was sitting upside down in her aunt's arms. "You told me the other day that you love your Aunt Brooke as much as you love me maybe even more. And I'm sure she would love to have you."

"Funny…" Peyton walked over to her friends. "Anne told me the same thing about her Aunt Brooke! Are you paying these girls to say that they love you?" Peyton teased Brooke.

Brooke sat Lucy up right on her two tiny feet and released her from her solid hold. "Don't be jealous guys. I am just one kick a…" She reached down and covered Lucy's ears. "One kick ass aunt!"

The women all laughed together. Their laughter attracted the attention of their husbands.

Lucas was the first to wrap his arms around his wife of five years. "What is so funny over here?"

"I hope its not about Jake's new haircut." Nathan playfully teased the older male of his new buzz cut as he pulled his wife into a tight hug. "Because we all agreed how much we like it."

Jake frowned and ran his fingers over the top of his head. "I like my new haircut. What's wrong with it?"

Peyton laughed and took her husband's hand from atop of his head. "Don't worry honey we all love your new haircut." She stood on her tip toes and kissed him gently on his lips.

"I still can't get over how cute you two are together." Brooke noted about the couple's loving embrace. "I've been rooting for the two of you since high school and I know I'm not the only one." She looked around her circle of friends.

Everyone agreed with nods of their heads.

"We all knew back in high school that this is how our lives would turn out to be." Haley added. "Just look around at what we've all created." She nodded toward their families hanging out together in her backyard as they all celebrated Jude and Davis' birthday.

Sawyer sat on the lap of her new older boyfriend, Chuck Scolnik, while Chuck looked up at her with love written in his eyes and a wide smile spread across his pink face.

James and his fiancée, Madison, sat at the edge of the pool with their feet dipped inside the cool water.

Jude and Davis both had their girlfriends on their arms while they talked by the grill and sipped on bottled root beers.

Aria ran around the yard with her cousins Lucy and Anne with Barbies clutched in all of their tiny hands.

"We wouldn't have this large close family if things didn't turn out the way they did." Haley finished her train of thought after she looked around Brooke and Lucas' backyard.

Brooke looked around the yard that was filled with her family. "You are so right, Hales! This is exactly how I saw our lives turning out to be."

Brooke still ran the café with Haley while also still running her children's boutique, Baker Man. She regained control of Clothes over Bros but put her mother in charge of the company so she would have as much time as possible to spend with her family and friends.

Lucas went from writing bestselling novels to writing scripts for movies and television shows after finishing up a movie based on Julian's show, An Unkindness of Ravens.

Jude was the star of the Tree Hill Raven's football team while Davis ruled the basketball court every Friday during one of his games. Both boys were now high scorers in the sports they played so well.

"I always saw us cuddling our husbands and standing around watching while our children ran around us." Peyton said before planting another kiss on Jake's soft, pink lips.

Peyton regained control of Red Bedroom Records and the first artist she signed when she had full control back was her husband, Jake Jagielski and his band. She also signed Chase Adam's wife Alex Dupre.

Sawyer was dating Chuck Scolnik and working as an executive assistant at her mother's record company. She was now working on having a child after discovering that she had the cancer gene and that her fertilization could be jeopardized if she waited to have any children at a later point in her life.

Jennifer moved to California to live with her mother, Nicole, to help keep the woman on the right track after her second stint in rehab.

"And we ended up with our soul mates." Haley said with a bright smile and a nod of her head.

"Haley and I have been betting on who would end up together since we were in high school." Nathan added with a laugh.

"What?" Everyone squealed in unison.

Haley and Nathan looked up at one another and burst into a fit of laughter.

"Well who won?" Brooke asked out of curiosity.

Nathan slowly began to raise his hand in the air to claim the title of winner. "I predicted you and Julian getting married, but I also predicted you getting back with Lucas somehow. Although I could have never predicted how it would happen. The reason for it is kind of sad."

"Meanwhile I predicted Jake and Peyton eventually finding their way back to one another like they had in high school." Haley chimed in.

"Everyone knew Naley was going to make it to the end." Lucas said. "There was no doubt about it in anyone's mind."

"Except Rachel Gattina!" Brooke said with a rolled of her eyes.

After divorcing Dan Scott and running off with all of his money, Rachel found herself alone and depressed. She lost everything after she began abusing drugs again but she sent herself to rehab on the last bit of money she had left, and there she found her husband and the father of her two sons and daughter.

"She couldn't tear us apart! No one can." Haley looked up at Nathan and caressed his cheek with her finger. "I'm lucky to have found my soul mate at sixteen years old." She though out loud. "We've been through so much but our bond only ever gets stronger never weaker or breakable."

"The greatest pleasure in life is having the person you love, love you back." Nathan smiled down at his wife. "And of course making wonderful babies with that person is a plus as well. I mean just look at our kids!" He laughed.

Haley laughed and peeled her eyes away from Nathan's deep brown eyes to see where they kids were.

James had proposed to his childhood girlfriend, Madison, after the two reunited shortly after Peyton and Jake's wedding. James now worked as a sports broadcaster while Madison worked as a magazine reporter for Clothes over Bros. They were excited to start their new life off as husband and wife.

Lydia was happy being single while she focused on keeping her GPA high and her boss of her tutoring job happy.

"Sorry we are late!" Quinn walked into the backyard with her son and daughter running ahead of her. Her husband, Clay Evans, entered the backyard after Quinn.

"We are late because she changed her dress like five times." Clay playfully teased his wife.

Their son, Logan Evans, walked out into the backyard behind his parents. "It was both of their faults." He added before dodging a blame slap on the arm from his stepmother. "She changed her dress a bunch and he wouldn't stop watching TV!"

Clay and Quinn got married in a courthouse just an hour after Clay regained custody of Logan and Quinn adopted him. They had a wedding the following year with all of their family and friends present. Years after their wedding they found out they were expecting their first child together, a son whom they named Bob Evans.

Three years after giving birth to Bob, Quinn gave birth to Daisy Bob Evans.

"Well you know family affairs like this don't end after just one hour. We tend to go on all night." Haley said with a wave of her hand before she hugged her older sister.

"Good so we're not late then?" Millicent held the hand of her husband, Mouth McFadden while their daughter, Brooke, led the way out to the backyard.

Brooke squealed at the sight of her god daughter. "Brooke, you look amazing!" She kissed the young woman's cheek.

"Good enough to be the new Brooke Davis?" Brooke McFadden asked.

Brooke Scott laughed and shook her head. "Not until I am old and grey or dead because I will always be fabulous."

Brooke McFadden worked under Brooke Scott's mother, Victoria Davis, at Clothes over Bros. She was on the team as the new co-designer.

"Why does Brooke have so many children named after her?" Peyton teased.

"I thought we established this earlier, P. Jagielski? It is because I'm a kick ass aunt to all of my baby boys and girls." Brooke Scott gave her god daughter a tight squeeze before sending her in the direction of her cousins.

"We do love you Brooke." Mouth winked at his close friend.

Mouth and Millie's show had been cancelled after being on the air for almost five years. Mouth went back to reporting sports while Millie went back to school to become a publicist for the stars, her first client becoming Alex Dupre.

"Brooke has changed so much from the girl I used to share secrets with in my bedroom." Peyton said with a nod of her head.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"She is so much stronger and trusting." Peyton smiled. "Overall she has become an amazing woman who I am proud to name my children after."

"And one kick ass aunt!" Haley added with a laugh.

Brooke felt tears beginning to sting the back of her eyes so she began to fan them away with her hands. "I love you guys so much! Each and every one of you." She opened her arms wide for her friends to join her in a group hug. "We've all been through so much and I can truly say that when I look around this circle of friends all I see are people who have had my back since day one."

"I'm glad I was wrong about you." Haley wiped tears from her wet cheeks. "I thought you were this stuck up cheerleader who had sex for fun and so wrong for my best friend."

"Well you were right about one thing." Brooke wiggled her eyebrows.

Everyone laughed together.

"But it turns out you are so right for my best friend." Haley's voice cracked. "Total opposites but yet so much alike."

Brooke stepped toward Haley and pulled her into a gentle hug. "I love you Haley James!"

"Haley James Scott!" Haley playfully corrected her best friend. "I love you too Brooke Scott."

Brooke squealed at the sound of her last name. "It still gives me goose bumps to hear people call me by my last name even after all this time. I always knew I would marry you, Lucas but it felt so good to finally be able to just do it and call you my husband."

"I got distracted there for a moment but I found my way back to you." Lucas said in an apologetic tone of voice.

Brooke wrapped her arms around the neck of her husband. "People who are meant to be together always find their way in the end."


End file.
